Only Half Perfect
by oh goodness me
Summary: There's Hermione Granger, smartest witch of her age and a muggle born. Then there's Draco Malfoy, Slytherin King and the son of a Death Eater. Who would ever think that a simple change of events could bring these two together? Please R&R! DMHG
1. Half Asleep

**Chapter One: Half Asleep**

Hermione Granger was in a bad mood. No doubt about it.

You'd think she'd be bouncing off the compartment walls of the Hogwarts Express with excitement since, after all, the trio was heading back to Hogwarts for their final year of school.

But no, if she had been stressed during their fifth year, she might as well ask Dumbledore to move her new Head quarters closer to the infirmary. She would probably be spending most of her time in there anyways with a mental stress problem.

"Come on Hermione. Have something to eat," said Ron, holding up his loot of Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, which were overflowing out of his hands and falling onto the compartment floor.

"No thanks Ron," she said, pushing away the candy, making a disgusted face as he bent down and began to eat the sweets that had fallen on the floor.

"Is something bothering you?" asked Harry leaning forward with his fingers laced.

"No," replied Hermione as she gazed out of the compartment window.

"Tell us Hermione," Ron said, through a mouthful of Chocolate Frogs mush.

"Yeah Herm. You've been looking really down lately," Harry said, concerned.

"Can we just drop it?" she asked, irritated.

She wasn't about to admit to that the great Hermione Granger was nervous for once in her life about going back to Hogwarts.

"But Her-" began Ron.

"Just drop it ok?"

She fell back into the cushiony seat and stared out the window with her arms crossed.

Ron and Harry exchanged worried glances before Ron shrugged and began stuffing his face with some Pumpkin Pasties.

Harry looked at Hermione, trying to decipher the look upon her face. Her brow was furrowed slightly as if she was thinking with her eyes squinted.

He sighed and began to read the book Lupin had gotten him for his birthday as the train dragged on.

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Draco Malfoy sat in a compartment, his tall body stretched out across several seats and listening to Crabbe and Goyle fight over which one of them Pansy Parkinson liked better.

Blaise was busy flipping through several magazines he had stolen from Millicent Bulstrode. As he puts it, the best way to give girls what they want is to _know_ what they want first. It really wasn't a bad idea. But with Blaise, who knows…

Even though Pansy cared for neither Crabbe nor Goyle, she would love to play with their brains.

"She fancies me. Not you," said Goyle defensively.

_She fancies everyone._

"She _told _me she likes me better," retorted Crabbe.

_No she didn't._

"Prove it,"

"I will."

_And how are you going to do that?_

"So where's your proof?"

"I'm still thinking!"

"Well think faster, you toad!"

"Shut up,"

"No you shut up."

_Oh dear me…_

"Face it you two. She fancies every boy in our year. I'm surprised she even considered both of you," interrupted Blaise smoothly.

_You've saved the day Blaise!_

Crabbe and Goyle stared dumbfounded at Blaise. Neither said a word.

Content with their reaction, he returned to reading his magazine with a pleased smile on his face.

Draco smiled to himself slightly and closed his eyes momentarily, only to be awoken by the sudden jolt of the train stopping.

"Hogwarts… whoopee," said Blaise.

He could hear the instant rustling of his three other compartment mates moving around to collect their possessions. Once everyone had left he'd get his things.

"Draco, you coming?" asked Blaise as he leaned against the compartment doorframe with his trunk.

"Yeah. I'll be there in a minute."

For now, he would just like to lie there in peace. Even if he was quite popular, he always felt a strange emptiness in the pit of his stomach, surrounded by so many people who would love to be him. But the thing is, he'd love to be anybody but himself. It was these times when he would like to just be alone and think.

"Oh Drakie, did you fall asleep?"

_So much for peace…_

"No."

He opened his eyes to find Pansy Parkinson looking down at him in a sickening sweet way.

Grunting, he got up slowly and reached out to grab his trunk from the luggage rack.

"I haven't seen you in _forever_. I missed you so much!" she squealed.

"I saw you when we got on the train," he said with a bored expression.

"But that was so long ago!"

"Can I ask you a favor, Pansy?"

"Anything Drakie!"

Pansy slipped her arm around his instantly and clung on like a leech.

"Get off me, will you?"

She stuck her lip out and pouted at him, batting her eyelashes a little too much.

"But it's so cold," she said, gripping his arm more, adding a fake shiver.

"It's September,"

"Isn't September the month when it starts to snow?"

"No. That's December,"

"Ooh,"

"So will you please get off me now?"

"But Drakie!"

"I told you once before and I don't want to again."

"Fine!"

Pansy threw him a deadly look and walked over angrily to a group of Slytherin girls getting into a nearby carriage.

_Thank god._

He spotted Blaise easily (he was standing in between two huge rocks… or two boys that looked like rocks) and followed after them.

"Oi, Draco! We thought you were right behind us," said Blaise once he had caught up with them.

The four climbed into an empty carriage and sat in silence as it swiftly took them up to Hogwarts.

"I saw Pansy all over you." Blaise said as they walked up the steps to the Great Hall.

This immediately captured the attention of Crabbe and Goyle.

Draco shot him an angry glare before continuing to walk up the stairs.

Upon reaching the Great Hall, and taking seats among the other Slytherins, Blaise decided to bring up another Pansy related question.

"So what's the deal with you and Pansy? You two going out?" he asked loudly so Crabbe and Goyle could hear above the noise of the other students.

"No, Blaise. Pansy and I are _not_ going out and never _will_ go out," said Draco, frustrated.

Blaise, like Pansy, also loved to toy with the minds of Crabbe and Goyle. There was never one conversation where he brought up Pansy and Draco around Crabbe and Goyle to make them jealous. But he had learned to live with it. They were best friends after all. They had the same classes, shared the same dorm, even had the same girls crazy after them… well that ones partly true…

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Hermione looked across the room at the Slytherin table and gave a loud groan.

"What are you looking at, Hermione?" asked Harry as they sat in the Great Hall, everyone occupied with the sorting of the first years.

Ron followed Hermione's gaze with his own eyes and landed upon the Slytherin she was staring at.

"MALFOY? What are you looking at him for?" exclaimed Ron, glaring across the table at Malfoy who didn't appear to have heard Ron's words.

"Look." Hermione pointed at a tiny gold object on his chest.

"Malfoy's Head Boy." Harry was not surprised. Maybe his father bribed the ministry into forcing Dumbledore to make him Head Boy.

Ron said nothing but continued to glare at Malfoy with a jealous look on his face.

Blaise Zabini soon found Ron's glaring at the Slytherin table. Nudging his fellow Slytherin friend to turn around, Draco did as he was told and found a smirk instantly spread across his face. Harry was sitting in the middle of Ron and Hermione, his expression bored and tired. Ron on the other hand, looked wild and furious, and poor Hermione looked absolutely flabbergasted.

"What are you three staring at?" he spat.

Harry was the first to speak. He obviously was the only one not in a jealous rage or completely upset.

"The pretty little badge on your robes. And how did you get Head Boy again? Did your father use a bribe?"

Draco looked somewhat taken back by Harry's words but recovered with a simple smirk.

"I'm perfect Potter, if you haven't noticed. I've got good grades, good looks, good _blood _too," he finished the word 'blood' harshly and looked over in Hermione's direction, "Who'd be better for the job than me?"

"Anyone _but_ you." Hermione glared back.

"Touchy, touchy, I see your Head Girl. How predictable," he said in an annoyed tone, looking at her own badge.

"Well unlike you I worked hard to become Head Girl,"

"Granger, how many times do I have to tell you, you don't have to be jealous because I'm so much better than you,"

"That's only what you want to think,"

"You sure?"

"Oh why don't you just shut up already?"

"Well I'm not the one staring at my good looks,"

"I wasn't staring at your good looks. I was staring at that badge on your chest that you must have stolen,"

"But you admit that I do have good looks,"

"No I didn't,"

"Sure you did."

Ron couldn't help but feel the slightest bit jealous that Malfoy was accusing her of thinking he was good looking.

"Shove off, Malfoy. No one was talking to you in the first place,"

"How sweet, Weasley is sticking up for his girlfriend."

Hermione felt a finger taping the back of her shoulder.

"What?" she shouted furiously.

"Er… Hermione," Ginny Weasley began, "Professor McGonagall said to tell you she expects you and Malfoy to join her for a tour of your new rooms."

Hermione blushed at how rude she'd been to Ginny but told her thank you politely and went back to listening to Ron and Malfoy bicker.

"…if anyone's told you this Weasley. But your so poor that to keep you fed and clothed, your family has to rely on the profits of your brothers' stupid joke shop," teased Malfoy.

Ron's hands clenched tightly into fists and both Hermione and Harry had to hold him down before he leaped across the table and tackled Malfoy.

"Look at that. Your stupid friends have to keep you from hurting me? That filthy mudblood and the boy-who-lived-but-should-have-died-cause-it-would-have-been-better-here-at-Hogwarts," Malfoy smirked.

Right now, Hermione and Harry were ready to let go of Ron and let him actually attack Malfoy. To Harry, he thought it would actually be quite interesting to watch. But they were interrupted by the sound of chair legs scraping across the floor and they looked up to see Professor Dumbledore walking towards the golden podium.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts," came Dumbledore's calm but booming voice from across the Great Hall, "I am pleased to say that our new professor Mr. Hillgide will be teaching a new class this year for the seventh years. The class has been added to your new schedules so there will be no need to keep us all waiting from the wondrous feast we are about to eat." He finished his short speech and clapped his hands together.

Ron forgot all about trying to knock the living daylight out of Malfoy and let out a squeal of excitement as their plates filled with mounds of food.

Hermione once again, found herself not hungry as she viewed the plate before her. Over the summer she had lost her appetite and spent most of her days studying for N.E.W.T.s… Yes. It was pretty pathetic but there was no way she'd get anything under an 'O' in every one of her classes. Considering 'O' is the highest you could get anyways.

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Draco Malfoy had just finished eating his meal as he watched Professor McGonagall approach Hermione.

"Mr. Malfoy," came the Professor's voice from beside her, "I have taken the opportunity of showing you two to your new rooms."

"You mean rooms as in…" asked Granger nervously.

"Together?" I asked, finishing her sentence.

"Why, yes."

I guess McGonagall didn't get the point.

"But I thought we'd be staying in our regular dorms," she said.

"As Head Boy and Head Girl, you both represent unity…"

_I blocked her voice out of my head. Did McGonagall really expect Granger and I to share living quarters? Because I would not and will not ever reside on the same floor as her let alone a common room and who knows what else._

"…I will not tolerate any inappropriate behavior between you both."

I shuddered and turned to glare at the mudblood, only to find she was already glaring at me. For several seconds we sat there in silence, my temper almost fuming and ready to lash out at the next thing she said.

"Is there a problem?" asked McGonagall raising an eyebrow at the two of us.

I immediately opened my mouth to throw and insult at Granger only just realizing it was McGonagall who had spoken. Granger of course, being the overachiever that she was, chose to speak in a deadly polite tone.

"Of course not," she said, clenching her teeth slightly.

"Mr. Malfoy?" McGonagall asked, turning to face me.

"Everything's just peachy," I replied with my eyes reduced to glaring slits.

"Well then, if you two would just follow me…"

I slipped out of my seat noisily and stormed out of the Great Hall. Glancing back I found Granger doing the same but with an airily fashion added to her walk.

"Students these days…" muttered Mcgonagall as she watched us stalk out of the hall.

"Professor?" came Potter's voice from his seat next to Weasley.

"Yes Mr. Potter?"

"You might want to make sure they aren't hexing each other right now."


	2. Arrangements

**Chapter Two: Arrangements**

The walk to the common room was utterly silent. The only sounds were the footsteps of the three.

SNAP 

A bright, blinding flash of light lit up the darkened hallway instantly and blinded them for a moment.

"Colin!" shouted Hermione, as she regained her sight.

Colin Creevey stood before them, his camera raised into picture taking position and a proud smile playing on his lips.

"Didn't mean to catch you of guard there. But Dumbledore's made me head of the yearbook committee and I've got to take all the pictures for it," he explained quite happily.

Draco glared at him through slit eyes.

"Why you-" he began.

"Malfoy, don't be so mean," Hermione hissed.

"Carry on then Mr. Creevey," said McGonagall.

"Yes, Professor," said Colin as he trotted down the hall in the opposite direction, snapping a photo of a group of Ravenclaw girls coming from the bathroom as he went.

"Well here we are," announced McGonagall.

They had stopped in front of a portrait of a handsome knight sitting on top of a white horse. Hermione looked upon the horse intently, imagining what it was like to ride one. She'd never had the chance to even when she was young. To busy being caught up with schoolwork as always. She glanced up at the knight who was smiling down at her. As McGonagall stated the password, he winked and flashed her a dazzling smile (Lockhart would be very proud). Hermione felt her cheeks instantly begin to grow pink, McGonagall took no notice, but after glancing in Malfoy's direction, she found him to be looking even more furious than he had in the corridor.

The common room before them was just like all the others. A small stone hallway led into the main part of the common room where to the right of the room a large fire resided, along with a couch and two armchairs surrounding the fireplace. On the other side of the room were two desks facing each other, and a nice bookcase with many collections of different books.

Straight ahead was a staircase that split in the middle and went off into two separate directions.

"Mr. Malfoy, your room is to the right and Miss Granger, yours is to the left," said Professor McGonagall, leaving the two alone in the common room.

Draco started forward towards the staircase.

She headed up the staircase after him, Draco feeling utterly exhausted from the long train ride, Hermione itching to sit down and read.

At the top, he turned to her.

"Don't get too comfortable here, Granger,"

"Well as McGonagall said, we represent unity,"

"Unity my ass,"

"Malfoy, I don't like this either but we're going to have to be… well…"

"Yeah?"

"It's not my choice you know but if you want to be Head Boy and get to take away points from houses-even though you'll probably just take points away from just Gryffindor anyways but-"

"Granger. I don't have time to listen to your constant babbling so would you just get on with what you were saying?"

"Right… well we're going to have to be …friends… not that I would want too,"

"Well that's not going to happen, Granger. Trust me." He walked up the remaining stairs leading to his dorm.

"Well… goodnight," Hermione called after him. He stopped and his head turned ever so slightly.

"Whatever…" he said after a moment of silence before disappearing into his room.

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Draco found the dormitory to be exactly identical to his old Slytherin one down in the dungeons. But of course, this one had real windows. Apparently, his clothes had already been brought up for him and packed away into the dresser. The house elves had even placed a strange muggle object on the dresser. It was square and a metallic silver. He poked it cautiously with a strange interest but it didn't budge nor utter a word, which he was sure it would do.

He sat on the edge of his bed, contemplating what were the advantages _and _disadvantages of being Head Boy. He had already begun to miss his friends. Right now, they'd probably be spread out on their beds in the dormitory, Blaise babbling on about girls (what else) while Crabbe and Goyle have a row over Pansy (yuck).

He flopped down onto his new bed and slowly drifted off to sleep, these thoughts still running through his head.

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As Draco was sleeping in his bed, Hermione was doing the complete opposite.

Her new room had proved to be beyond her expectations, and to enlighten her mood even more, she decided to sit down and read a nice book.

At Diagon Alley, she, Harry, and Ron had come across the strangest bookshop. Upon entering (which Ron and Harry were forced to do), a stubby little man greeted and led the three to a selection of books he thought they'd be interest in. In fact, they _were_ interested in them. After several minutes of browsing, Harry had decided on buying a book entitled: _All you ever need to know about Quidditch_. While Ron ended up running out of the store, swearing he had seen a section of books covered in humungous black spiders. Hermione on the other hand had settled on a book called: _Dealing with your new Pressures_.

She opened the book slowly, it made a warmly familiar crackling noise as the spine was bent slightly and she began to turn the crisp pages as her thoughts slowly drifted off…

_Am I crazy? Why did I suggest to Malfoy that we should try to be friends?_

_Because you know you want to._

_Are you crazy too? Well you are me… but that's not the point!_

_Come on. You haven't even tried to be nice to him… ever._

_Yes I have._

_When?_

_Er…_

_Exactly._

_But he calls me a mudblood and he's the cause for that period when I had stupid beaver teeth!_

_Well if it hadn't been for him you wouldn't of gotten to shrink your teeth to a more normal size._

_What about calling me a mudblood? There's no excuse for that._

_Playful teasing?_

_Oh why do I have a little voice inside my head like you?_

So there she lay, relaxed and lying on her stomach and thinking about what her last year at Hogwarts was to bring. So relaxed, that she began to drift off to sleep as well. Before she new it, Hermione was sound asleep, book in hand.

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She woke to the sound of her bewitched alarm clock ringing in her ears. Groaning and half asleep, she placed the book she had been reading the night before on her bedside table and slipped her feet into a pair of comfortable fuzzy slippers. Making her way to the bathroom door, she reached out and grasped the doorknob to steady her before opening it.

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He woke to an annoying high-pitched sound in his ear. Turing onto his side, he saw his alarm clock buzzing and sputtering on the small table beside his bed.

"Bloody hell," he muttered, pulling the covers off himself and tumbling out of the bed, punching the alarm clock to make it silent once more.

Rubbing his eyes unconsciously, he nearly tripped over the edge of the green rug before landing face flat in front of the bathroom door. He grunted and stood up unsteadily and opening the door.

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"AAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Get out of my bathroom!" she yelled at him.

"This is _my_ bathroom. Not yours!" he retorted in another yell.

"No it's not! I was here first!"

"No you weren't!"

"Yes I was so, get out!"

"Why don't _you_ get out of _my_ bathroom?"

"Because it's mine!"

"No it bloody isn't!"

"Just shut up and get out, Malfoy!"

"You shut the bloody hell up and get out!"

"No I won't!"

"Get the fuck out, Granger!"

"Ugh!" shouted Hermione, swearing under her breath as she stormed back into her room, "Wait till McGonagall hears this."

"No you don't!" Draco shouted back, rushing into his own room.

She shut the door and quickly changed into her school robes, stumbling down the staircase and into the common room. He wasn't far behind her, having already had his white button down shirt and pants on.

"Professor McGonagall!" the two yelled in unison upon entering the Great Hall. The students already sitting down for an early breakfast looked up.

"Please don't tell me I have to share a bathroom with _him_?" asked Hermione.

"It's not like this situation is any better for me," he spat at her.

"Only twelve hours and you two can't stop fighting!" she exclaimed from her seat up at the staff table.

"But Prof-"

McGonagall held up her hand to silence them.

"That is enough!"

Professor Snape, having overheard the conversation butted in.

"If you don't mind me saying so, Minerva. I think a proper punishment would be, perhaps, helping the house elves prepare the Halloween Feast?"

"Now now Severus, that is much to drastic for now," she told him before turning to Hermione and Malfoy, "But if I ever catch you two fighting again, then I shall greatly consider Professor Snape's proposal."

Hermione sighed to herself and headed off to her house table as Draco did the same.

Plopping down between Ron and Harry, she found herself staring at her plate once more. Immediately some cooked eggs and a piece of toast appeared on it. Pushing it away for she wasn't hungry, the food disappeared.

"What was that all about?" asked Harry.

"I have to share a bathroom with Malfoy," she muttered so only they could hear her.

"SHARE A BATHROOM?" exclaimed Ron, standing up and drawing the attention of the whole Great Hall to himself.

"Ron! Sit down!" she hissed at him.

"What do you mean 'share a bathroom'?" Ron asked her frantically after sitting down.

"We have share a bathroom, Ronald," she said to him for the second time in a row.

He looked at her with a confused and angry expression on his face.

"It means, Ron," she said a little too impatiently, "that Malfoy and I share a room where people brush their teeth, comb their hair, take bat-"

"I don't want to hear anymore!" he said, cutting her off.

"Ron, you're being so immature about this. It's not like Hermione would do anything… right?" asked Harry.

"Honestly you two. I think I'm old enough to look out for myself, thanks," she said.

"Isn't that illegal though?" asked Ron with a hint of hope in his voice.

"I don't think so Ron. Don't worry though Hermione I'm sure Dumbledore can do something about it," said Harry happily.

"Dumbledore _has_ to do something about it!" said Ron, glancing over at the Slytherin table with an evil glare.

"According to McGonagall, I can't complain at all otherwise I'll get detention with the house elves," she said dully.

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"Draco, what's with all the shouting mate?" asked Blaise as he sat down across from him.

"I don't want to talk about it," he mumbled.

"Oh come on! Whatever it is it can't be as bad as having to share a dormitory with these blokes," said Blaise, motioning towards Crabbe and Goyle.

"I have to share a bathroom with _her_," muttered Draco.

"Even if she's annoying, Sara's quite hot. Remember that Quidditch game? She was so scared when you hurt yourself and she was first to the Hospital Wing to see you-"

"SHARE A BATHROOM?" they heard Ron shout from the table next to theirs.

"Well I guess her boyfriend's found out," Draco muttered again.

"Wha-"

He was about to explain to Blaise about how he was talking about Granger and not Sara Smith, one of the girls Blaise would love to get his hands on. But unfortunately for him, Sara was only interested in Draco… well more like obsessed with him. But he decided not to. He'd rather just like to eat.

"Blaise. Can we just eat in peace?"

"Oh, sure thing."

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"Well at least you'll get a chance to try and persuade the house elves to free themselves," said Harry encouragingly.

"I'll be too busy making chocolate éclairs for everyone," said Hermione sadly.

"That sounds fun. Maybe you'll get to sample all the food!" said Ron, his smile growing wide with the thought of all those sweets.

"Ronald…" she began.

"What? Just trying to make it sound more positive,"

"It doesn't even sound positive to begin with! I'll be stuck in a kitchen with Malfoy who has probably never even touched a kitchen appliance in his life!"

"Well if you put it that way it's not going to sound the least bit positive at all,"

"Oh never mind… let's just go to class,"

"Okay Herm," said Harry and Ron together.

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"So how're Quidditch trials going?" Blaise asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Well we've got only one new position to fill and right now, I don't think we should count on winning the Quidditch Cup,"

"I bet those stupid Gryffindors will,"

"Don't they always?"

"Hello."

Draco turned around to find Sara Smith behind him looking absolutely gleeful. He looked at Blaise who simply smirked and leaned back to watch.

"Oh hello Sara,"

"I… I was wondering if-"

"Wondering what?" spat Pansy Parkinson as she slid into the seat next to Draco.

When Sara did not answer, Pansy shouted at her again.

"I asked you what you were 'wondering' about, Smith!"

"Pansy calm down we were just talking," said Draco.

"Well don't talk to her again,"

"You can't tell me who and who not to talk to," he said, raising his voice.

"She was hitting on _my_ Drakie poo!" Pansy squealed.

"I am not _yours _or anybody else's,"

"Listen, Pansy," Blaise piped up, "Draco was just talking to Sara about Charms homework."

"We haven't had any classes yet, Blaise!" she exclaimed.

_Blaise you dumb ass. _

"Did I say homework? I meant charms in general," he said quickly, a little to quickly.

"Sara just get the bloody hell away." Pansy shouted after her as she scampered off like a wounded dog.

"Pansy, listen, Sara was just talking to me. And I'm not going out with you in the first place."

She looked like she had been slapped but lowered her head in defeat and started to pick at some of bacon that had appeared on her plate.

"I need to find a way to get rid of Pansy!" Draco hissed.

"Maybe you could try getting an actual girlfriend for once?" said Blaise.

"What would that do?"

"Well Pansy wouldn't try to be your girlfriend if you had one,"

"But I've never had a girlfriend, and even if it did, who would it be?"

"Draco, you've got girls who would kill to be your girlfriend,"

"Like who?"

"Do I have to name all of them?"

"Okay, okay,"

"But you have to make sure she's someone you can't get to easily,"

"Why?"

"Because that'll make it even more fun,"

"Blaise, you never cease to amaze me." Draco said as he slipped out of his seat.

"As always,"

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The trio walked down the deserted corridor to their first lesson. Charms.

Ron was still chewing a humungous mouthful of food and whenever he tried to talk, it only resulted in spots of partially chewed food on the floor.

Harry was reading his book once again. But strangely enough, he hadn't turned a page since they had left the Great Hall and was curiously glancing up every so often.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at her two best friends. There was Ron, spraying food everywhere and Harry pretending to read a book. She would have thought her life was perfect until…

"McGonagall said we've got Head duties tonight," came a smooth and sexy voice from behind her.

She was almost in a daze before she saw who it was.

"…W-well I'm not going, Malfoy,"

"And why not?"

"Because I'm going to Hagrid's with Harry and Ron,"

"Those two idiots?"

"We're not idiots, Malfoy."

Ron and Harry had caught on to why Hermione had stopped right in the middle of the corridor, and if they didn't hurry, they'd be late.

"I wasn't talking to you, Weasley. Or you, Potthead,"

"Why don't you just leave and stop bothering us?"

"Granger and I were having a little talk till you two interrupted,"

"Shut up Mal-"

"I think we'd better leave. I'll talk to you in the common room…"

Ron shot him a final glare before being dragged by Hermione to Charms.

Maybe she might just give Malfoy a chance at being friends… a very sexy friend of course.


	3. Predicaments

Chapter Three: Predicaments 

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Malfoy, walking down the staircase in a lazy fashion.

"To Hagrid's," replied Hermione, pushing the portrait open.

"But you have to give the first years their tour,"

"That's your job, ferret,"

_Ferret? Hermione! No! Bad girl! No calling people names._

"No it's not, I already told you I have Quidditch tryouts,"

"Well you'll have to skip tryouts then because I am going to Hagrid's,"

Great now you're being hard headed! 

"I can't skip it! If you haven't noticed, I'm the captain!"

"Do I really care?"

_Wow, Hermione… you sure know how to make friends._

"Well I don't really want you to care,"

"Right. Well have fun with the first years,"

"I already told you, Granger. _You_ have to give them the tour. Not me,"

"I was out of the door first so you have to,"

"No you're not,"

"Well now I am," she said smugly, placing her foot firmly on the ground outside the portrait, "the first years are waiting!" she shouted to him as she began to walk towards the Gryffindor common room to meet Harry and Ron.

"Have fun in the detention you're going to get!" he called after her as he picked up the broom, which had been residing on the floor since their arrival.

Storming off to the Quidditch field, he found himself looking at only two new applicants. Pansy sat in the stands, waving and blowing kisses as he entered. He ignored her and walked with heavy feet to where the team was sitting on the field.

Great pickings this year…

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"Hagrid!" came Harry's voice as he knocked loudly upon the large wooden door fiercely.

"Ouch!" said Ron as Harry swung back and accidentally punched him in the face.

"Ron!" Hermione yelled at him as she toppled over and fell onto the snow.

Ron tried regaining his balance, only to trip over Hermione's foot.

Harry looked down at the two sprawled on the ground and erupted into an uncontrollable laughter.

"Shut up, Harry," said Ron, grabbing a clump of dirt and throwing it at him.

"Thanks," muttered Harry with a mouthful of dirt a grass.

The large door creaked open and the trio found their large and hairy friend beaming down at them, a smile plastered on his face.

"Blimey, I knew yeh three would be commin' but what er way ter make an' entrance," he said chuckling slightly.

They trotted into the cozy cabin like obedient dogs and took their usual places at the table, which adorned a large pile of peeled potato skins and four steaming mugs.

"Hagrid, do you mind if I use your sink?" asked Harry as he walked over to the large faucet.

"Not at all." Hagrid said while taking a seat in front of the potato skin pile.

As Harry began to rid his face (and mouth) of dirt and grass, Hagrid began to babble on about how Gwap had found himself a little cave and even made himself a bed made out of twigs, as Hermione was sipping her tea and kicking Ron under the table so he wouldn't fall face first into his plate of rock cakes.

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"Okay, anyone who isn't trying out for Chaser leave now!" He bellowed at the group of about 10 before him.

He watched eight of the unlucky Slytherins trot back up to the Castle before continuing.

"Well one of you will have to go first and score as many goals as possible. You've got Harper and Vaisey to help you if you need it. Got it?"

"You go first. What's your name?" he asked the weedy blonde haired boy.

"Derek Smith,"

"Okay Smith, you're up,"

"I think you know my older sister," Derek said as if Draco hadn't said anything. "She's in your year,"

"There's no name of a girl Draco doesn't know!" said Blaise, placing a hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"Her names Sara,"

"Well Drakie Poo can't talk to Sara otherwise Pansy'll cut off his-"

"Bloody hell Blaise…"

Derek snorted before mounting his broom and pushing off into the air.

The boy hastily grabbed the Quaffle once it was thrown up to him and sped down the field.

"He's a pretty good flyer," said Blaise.

"Yeah, he's got a pretty good chance of making the team," Draco said, beaming. _Maybe this year they'd have a decent team._

"Is that cause of his talent or his sister?"

"How many times to I-"

"Er… Draco?"

"What?"

"Does Smith know how to stop?"

BAM!

"Apparently not,"

Derek hadn't stopped. And he had flown right into the goal post and had plummeted to the ground unconscious.

"Well… at least he can fly,"

"Oh shut up, Blaise."

He watched Crabbe pick the boy up effortlessly and walk to the infirmary. Their last chance was the short, stubby one who was busy fiddling with his thumbs. But maybe, just maybe he'd blow us all away with his godly Chaser skills…

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"So how is Gwap, Hagrid? I mean on speaking real words?" Hermione asked, placing her empty mug on the table and folding her hands politely in her lap.

"Ah he's doin' wonderful! Been teachin' him the alphabet and we've gotten down to M already!" Hagrid said cheerfully.

"Can he still say Hermy?" she asked him.

"Why… er… yep. He still can!"

"Can he say Ronny?" mocked Ron.

"Well… no. I don't think so…" said Hagrid, feeling his beard.

"Oh don't mind him, Hagrid. He's just a bit upset," sighed Hermione.

"How come?"

"Because since I'm Head Girl, I have to share a common room and bathroom with the Head Boy,"

"Well whose the lucky lad then?" Hagrid asked, taking a big sip out of his mug.

"Malfoy," Harry, Hermione and Ron said in unison, only to be sprayed and covered seconds later in a mix of spit and tea.

"Sorry 'bout that… Malfoy you say?" Hagrid apologized, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Tell me that's illegal, Hagrid!" pleaded Ron.

"I don't think it is really…"

"If they have to share rooms for a whole year then they'll probably kill each other!"

"Ter tell yeh, Dumbledore knows what he's doing. He wudn't make 'em do anything together if he knew it'd end bad."

Ron gave a loud grunt and began to stare furiously into his mug.

Hagrid turned to Hermione, his brow furrowed at Ron's behavior.

She shook her head and picked at the rock cake sitting on her plate.

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"So you are…?"

"Russell Clemens,"

"Well it's your turn. You know how to stop on your broom, don't you?"

"Yes,"

"Okay, get up there then!"

Clemens mounted his broom and flew gracefully into the air, hovering above Blaise and Draco.

After being tossed the Quaffle, he zoomed off with as much talent as Smith had and threw it swiftly at the middle post. Missing it of course on his first try. But after another few tries, Clemens was able to score three more before his time was up.

"Well it looks like you're our new Chaser," said Draco as he pat Clemens on the back.

"Smith won't be too happy," admitted Blaise.

"It's his fault-"

"I want another try!"

Derek Smith was running across the field towards Draco, Blaise and Clemens with Crabbe trotting after him.

"You already had a go, Smith!" shouted Draco, "We've already chosen our new Chaser."

Derek frowned.

"Please!" he pleaded.

"No. Maybe next year,"

"I really don't know what my sister sees in you," spat Derek as he stormed off the field, kicking a spare quaffle lying on the ground.

_I don't really care._

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"Well Hagrid. We'd better get going," said Harry, placing down his mug on the table.

"Okay well I'll see yeh lot later then."

The three left Hagrid's hut, trying their best not to wake Fang who was slobbering over the floor.

"Whose that?" asked Ron as he pointed towards the Quidditch pitch where tiny dots zoomed around in the air.

"It looks like… the Slytherin Quidditch team," said Harry, having to squint even with his glasses on.

"Does it look like a good team? We can't afford to lose this year,"

"All I can see are tiny green dots,"

"Let's go closer then."

Ron and Harry sped off towards the Quidditch pitch, leaving Hermione behind in the dark.

"Boys and Quidditch…" she muttered as she sprinted after them.

"Ron! Harry! Slow down! I – OUCH!"

Harry and Ron had stooped down under one of the stands and had their heads peaking out from underneath the fabric, causing Hermione to trip over them and draw the attention of the Draco Malfoy.

"Granger? What are you…" his expression turned to pure jealously once he spotted her friends, "Come here to spy on us Potter, Weasley?

"That would just be a waste of time, Malfoy," Harry spat back as he stood up and brushed the dirt off of himself for the second time that day.

"Well what are you doing here then?"

"Having a good laugh,"

"I think we're the ones having the laugh here, Potter,"

"Buzz of Malfoy,"

"You buzz off. I'm supposed to be here. You aren't,"

The old rivals glared at each other before Harry stalked back off to the castle, Ron following close behind.

"Your boyfriends are waiting for you, Granger."

For a second, she looked confused after he had spoken but turned and ran off after Harry and Ron who had already disappeared from view.

He didn't know why, but for some reason, he felt a pang of jealously as he watched her follow after them like an obedient dog.

"Come on Draco."

He was brought from his thoughts and found he had been staring after her for several minutes now.

"What were you doing?" Blaise asked, coming up behind him.

Draco turned to look at his best friend.

"…Just making sure Potthead and Weasley are gone,"

"Okay, mate. You'd better get some rest though it's getting late."

Draco smiled at his best friend before bringing the tryouts to a close.

"See you in the morning."

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"Miss Granger!"

"Professor McGonagall! Oh… I was just-"

"You and Mr. Malfoy were supposed to give the first years their tour of the castle and neither of you showed up!"

"Malfoy was supposed to! Harry, Ron and I went down to Hagrid's and I told him he had-"

"There are no excuses for this Miss Granger. I am afraid I will have to put Professor Snape's suggestion into use,"

"But…but… I've never had detention before!"

"I'm sorry. But these are the consequences I-"

Draco Malfoy walked up behind them, his eyebrows raised as he viewed the situation before him with interest.

"Good evening, Professor," he said politely.

"Mr. Malfoy. I was just telling Miss Granger about your new punishment,"

"Punishment? But I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Didn't do anything wrong? You left the first years alone in the Great Hall so they decided to have a look around the castle themselves! And they got themselves locked up in a classroom! They'd still be stuck in there if Professor Dumbledore hadn't noticed them missing!"

"Granger was supposed to do it, Professor. I had to choose a new Chaser,"

"Quidditch trials could have been rescheduled for another day. You both refused to attend to your Head duties and in doing so, have placed this punishment upon yourselves,"

He glanced over at Hermione who looked shocked at having her first detention only several days into term. There was no getting out of this one. So he hung his head in defeat and began to stare down at his shoes like there was something important on them.

"Both of you will report to the kitchens tomorrow after your last lesson."

Professor McGonagall turned and headed up the stairs to her room briskly, leaving the four alone in the flickering light of the torches hanging on the corridor walls.

"We'll see you in the morning, Hermione. Night."

Harry strode up the stairs after Professor McGonagall, eager to get some sleep.

"Bye, Herm."

With one last glare at Malfoy, Ron bounded up the stairs after Harry two steps at a time.

"It's all your fault, Malfoy," Hermione said softly as she began to walk up the stairs to the Head's common room.

She couldn't help but feel at least a little mad at him for getting her detention… friends had their ups and downs!

"Didn't quite catch that?" Draco said, catching up to her.

"I said," she raised her voice, "it's all your fault that I've gotten my first detention!"

"My fault? You had to go and visit that half giant bloke!"

"You have no right to call Hagrid that!"

Maybe she'd start this friend thing tomorrow…

"Shut up, mudblood,"

Now he'd done it.

"Ugh! Why don't you… why don't you just… UggghhhhAHHHHH!"

And with that, she slammed the door to her dorm, leaving him stunned and utterly confused.


	4. Cloak of the Enemy

I realized I made a few errors when I was looking over the last chapter… but it doesn't make a really big change in the story or anything so I'll just leave it be!

_Okay well then, onward to chapter four!_

**Chapter Four: Cloak of the Enemy**

This morning he expected her to yell at him again. But she didn't. She walked past him in the common room, completely ignoring his presence. But why did he care? He shouldn't care… right?

"You need to peel the shrivelfig, Granger."

She didn't say anything.

"Granger," he said waving the shrivelfig in the air at her, "you need to peel this!"

She didn't answer again.

"Miss Granger. Are you deaf?" came the slimy voice of their greasy haired Potions Professor.

"No," she muttered, finally looking up.

"Well then shouldn't you be peeling the shrivelfig that Mr. Malfoy has asked you to?"

"Yes,"

"Well then get to it. Otherwise I will have to fail you for not cooperating with your partner."

He grinned evilly at her and left their table, his robes billowing after him as he took his time to mock Neville Longbottom's potion and embarrass him about the disgusting liquid mess.

Hermione grabbed a knife and began to peel the skin off the shrivelfig, making sure not to loose her temper or she would surely cut herself.

"You're peeling it wrong," he said, reaching out to take the knife and shrivelfig.

She slapped his hand away and glared at him.

"I know what I'm doing, Malfoy."

Her hand that held the knife was now raised like she was going to stab something and her face was twisted into a glare.

"Okay, okay. Don't need to threaten me."

The rest of the class dragged on in an uncomfortable silence.

His thoughts came to the detention he had in the kitchens after class. He had never cooked before. How was he to handle cooking a Halloween feast for all of Hogwarts?

"Hopefully the rest of your potions will be better than Longbottom's here."

Snape said as he motioned towards the vile of a gray putrid looking substance that was obviously Neville's potion-gone-wrong.

Neville blushed furiously as the other Gryffindors and Slytherins rose from their seats and exited the dungeon.

Automatically, Hermione followed after Ron and Harry who were busy muttering about how Snape was a complete ass, only to be pulled back roughly in the corridor by Malfoy.

"What?" she spat at him.

"Have you forgotten that we have detention?"

"That's where I'm going."

She wrenched her arm out of his grasp and continued down the corridor.

"Granger, the kitchens are this way."

"I'm taking a shortcut…"

"Have it your way then."

His long strides were just enough to keep up with her quick short ones as they took Hermione's shortcut down to the kitchens for detention.

The thing is that Hermione had no idea where she was heading. But she couldn't admit to Malfoy that perfect Hermione Granger didn't simply know the way to the kitchens. So they walked on, passing many portraits, stairways, and statues.

"You know, shortcuts are supposed to be short. Not long,"

"Lead the way then if you're so gifted with shortcuts."

He grunted and began heading down the corridor at an even faster pace, which was hard for her to keep up with.

Finally, they reached the portrait of the fruit bowl after many moments of wandering down the corridors. Hermione reached out her hand and tickled the pare smiling to herself as she did so.

The portrait opened quietly, allowing them to enter the kitchens.

She entered the portrait first, making sure not to slip on the raw egg that had been splattered on the floor. With a flick of her wand, the egg vanished just as he stepped onto the spot it had occupied before.

Immediately, seven house elves scrambled forward and stared at them with their humungous eyes.

"May we help you, Miss?" squeaked an unusually short one, her big green eyes blinking as she waited.

"Oh… yes. We're here for detention…" The house elf seemed quite confused as she mentioned the word 'detention' so she elaborated, "You know, for our punishment we have to help you prepare for the Halloween Feast."

"And what a wonderful punishment that is! If you would-"

"One of Harry Potter's dear friends!" came an excited voice from the small crowd of house elves.

A house elf wearing socks on his ears and bright orange turtleneck pushed his way through his fellow workers.

"Oh, hello Dobby!" Hermione said, pleased with the thought that maybe her time here would not be so lonely as expected.

But her thoughts were interrupted as she Dobby's expression of happiness suddenly changed.

His eyes grew wider and he began to fiddle with the bottom of his turtleneck.

"Dobby, what's wron-"

"You stupid little house elf!" roared Draco Malfoy's voice from behind Hermione.

She had forgotten he was even there the whole time…

Draco lunged forward and grabbed Dobby's orange turtleneck, lifting him off the ground so they were face to face.

"I is not scared. I do not work for the Malfoys anymore," Dobby gulped.

"Thanks to your little friend Potter, father had to look for another house elf!"

"It not my fault," whispered Dobby.

Draco shook him and his head began to move like a bobble head doll.

"Let go of him! You're going to kill him!" yelled Hermione as she sprung forward and tried to pry Dobby out of his grip.

His grip was tight against Dobby's shirt and Hermione had to resort to biting Malfoy's hand.

"Ouch!" he cried, dropping Dobby to the cold floor and drawing his hand back, "What was that for?"

"Well if you haven't noticed, Malfoy. You almost killed Dobby!"

"You didn't have to bite me for it with your filthy beaver teeth! It's your friend potthead's fault for letting that thing free!"

He pointed a long, white finger at Dobby who was busy straightening out his turtleneck and massaging his neck.

"Don't start with me, Malfoy," she warned.

"It's your bloody fault I have to work in this stupid kitchen!"

"If you hadn't decided that Quidditch was more important then we wouldn't be here in the first place!"

"Will you stop your yapping, mudblood? That thing is trying to talk to you."

Dobby smiled at her with a wide grin.

"Dobby will take you to where you work," he said gleefully, skipping off down a row of pastry dough.

They followed after him into a space, enclosed by the surrounding shelves of pumpkins, eggs, milk, and other items used to create a Pumpkin Pasty.

There was a table in the middle, which held a variety of metal objects and a very dirty looking recipe written on some torn parchment.

"Thank you, Dobby. Remember, working as a Hogwarts house elf isn't the only thing to do in live, why-"

"Granger, persuading it to become 'free' is never going to work so start your cooking already,"

She glared at him before walking over to the shelf, which held the pastry dough.

"Here." She grabbed a handful of dough and threw it towards Malfoy.

"Oof." The dough hit him squarely in the face (as she had intended).

"What the bloody hell was that for, Granger?" He said rubbing his hand across the spot it had on his face.

"You need to kneed the dough,"

"…do what to the dough?"

"Honestly, have you never cooked before?"

"Well…"

"You haven't cooked have you?"

"Like it matters? That's what house elves are for!"

"You're such a spoiled prat! You get everything you want without doing anything!"

"I don't get everything I want…"

"What?"

"Nothing,"

"But what did you mea-"

"Nevermind what I said!"

"…you still need to kneed the dough…"

"I hate this bloody dough!"

Malfoy yelled and threw the dough fiercely down onto the table, causing it to shake slightly.

"Having some trouble?"

He grunted.

"I don't know how to 'kneed' the dough,"

"How pathetic are you?" She shoved him aside and began pushing her fingers outwards into the dough and roll it over.

He watched her amusingly for a while.

Obviously she was talented in the kitchen, unlike him.

But as her brow began to furrow in concentration, he couldn't help but grin a little, kicking himself in his head for doing so though.

"Okay," said Hermione after finishing her job of dough kneeding, which the incompetent Malfoy could not do, "we need to make the filling for the pastries."

"Er…"

She rolled her eyes and walked over to the shelf, which held the Pumpkins, eggs, and milk.

"Please tell me you know how to cut a pumpkin open,"

"I'm not dumb, Granger. Of course I do."

He grabbed a knife and easily slid it into the pumpkin, forcing it downwards and pulling the two halves apart.

"Well… it says to take out the insides," said Hermione, reading the instructions.

"I'm not reaching my hand into that disgusting stuff,"

"Oh please. It's just a pumpkin. Use a spoon then."

He took a large spoon from the table and scooped out the insides, trying his best not to touch.

Once it was in the bowl, Hermione added the eggs and milk then began to stir the mixture with a wooden spoon.

"Okay, you stir it now."

She handed Malfoy the bowl and spoon.

He stirred it slowly, just like he would a potion.

It was a good thing he was quite talented in Potions.

The bowl now contained a strange, smooth mixture that was an orangey-brown color with brown specs.

After pouring the pumpkin filling into the batches of pastry dough, he put the many racks one by one into the large oven and used his wand to create a fire underneath the racks.

"Well I guess that's done with," said Hermione as she leaned against a shelf next to the oven.

Draco grunted and stared down at the floor.

His eyes widened a little.

"Er…"

"What?"

He pointed at the floor.

The end of Hermione's cloak had caught on fire and the flames were slowly creeping up her clothing.

"Malfoy, you numbskull!" she yelled at him, flailing her arms.

He stepped forward and tried stepping on the fire with his foot, only causing her cloak to tear at the seams.

"MALFOY!"

The fire was still blazing at the bottom of her robe and getting higher and higher.

"It won't go out!" He yelled to her over the noise of her yells and the commotion that several house elves were making.

"MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY AND USE YOUR WAND!" She yelled frantically.

He had forgotten all about his wand.

Whipping it out from under his cloak, he used a simple spell to extinguish the fire, only a trace of smoke in the air still left.

He expected her to thank him for saving her life poor little life (A/N: Yes it's supposed to sound overly dramatic) but…

"MALFOY! THANKS TO YOU MY CLOAK IS RUINED AND I WAS ALMOST GOING TO BE BURNED TO A CRISP!" she shouted at him.

He stared at her, stunned at her burst of outrage.

"Ugh!" she stormed away from him and towards the exit to the kitchens.

"Granger! What's wrong with you?" he said, running after her.

She glared at him and threw her cloak, which she had taken off towards him.

It was ripped and smelled like smoke, several parts tinged from the burn.

"Does that answer your question?"

"What do you want me to do about it? Get over it! It's just a cloak!"

"That's my _only_ cloak! I'm not rich like you and can buy as many cloaks as I want… and it's getting cold!"

Indeed, the corridors were quite cold around this time before dinner and late into the night as well.

"Well as I've already asked, what do you want me to do-"

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger, what seems to be the problem?"

Dumbledore had come up behind them in the corridor unnoticed, his purple cloak trailing behind himself as he went on his way to dinner.

"Miss Granger, did you have a mishap in the kitchen?"

She nodded.

"And no cloak? It must be awfully cold,"

She nodded again.

"Here…" Malfoy muttered as he took of his cloak and tossed it over towards her.

She caught it and looked slightly stunned before slowly putting it on, the sleeves draping over her hands and the bottom of the cloak sprawled across the floor.

He was much bigger than her.

"Well I guess we should be going to dinner now, shall we?"

He strolled down the corridor towards the stairs, which took them to the Great Hall.

Hermione followed after him, not willing to be left alone in a dark corridor with Malfoy.

Draco continued after her, finding it quite easy to keep up with her pace.

Upon reaching the Great Hall, she walked in and immediately was shot strange looks as she walked over to sit by Harry, Ron, and Ginny.

"Hermione… are you wearing _Slytherin_ robes?" asked Harry.

"Well-"

"Whose robes are those?" interrupted Ron, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"…Malfoy's." Harry, Ron, and Ginny began to choke on the food that they had been eating.

"Hermione! Why are you wearing his robes?" Ron coughed.

"Well mine accidentally caught on fire and Dumbledore made him let me use it,"

"You don't have to, Hermione."

Ron was obviously jealous. His ears were beginning to turn red with anger.

Harry and Ginny however were not as upset. In fact, Ginny didn't even seem to be upset about it at all.

The rest of dinner progressed slowly and awkwardly.

Hermione received several stares and glances from other students who seemed bewildered at her choice of wardrobe.

When she had looked across the table, she found the whole Slytherin table glaring at her. Malfoy seemed like he didn't even notice.

Finally, dinner came to a close and Hermione quickly left, followed by Ginny who was eager to talk to her about her day.

Upon reaching the portrait door to Hermione's common room, she bid Ginny goodnight, only to have her speak once more.

"Goodnig-"

"Hermione… do you like Malfoy?"

"…no. Why would you ask something-"

"Well night, Herm."

"Ginny! You get back here-GINNY!"

But she had already disappeared down another corridor.

That night, Hermione wondered about several things:

Why had Malfoy been willing to let her use his cloak?

Why did Ginny ask if she liked Malfoy?

Why did he forget to use his wand to help her? Normally it was like a natural instinct… but he seemed to just have stood there, looking stunned and was that hurt he saw in his eyes? It was like he was remembering something… something hurtful…

Her thoughts were instantly interrupted with a loud knock on her bedroom door sounded.

_I really have no clue how to make Pumpkin Pasties so I just wrote down what I thought you would use… so don't try it!_


	5. Hogsmeade Suprises

**Chapter Five: Hogsmeade Suprises**

"Whose there?" Hermione asked the figure standing behind her door.

She didn't hear an answer but immediately recognized him as he opened the door slowly, peering in with his blonde hair falling loosely around his face.

"What do you want?"

"Can I have my cloak back?" Draco asked.

"Oh…right."

She got up from her bed and walked over to the dresser, which the cloak was placed upon.

She tossed it over to him and he began to exit the room before she spoke again.

"…Why didn't you use your wand?"

He stopped, shifting his head slightly.

"I don't know what you mean…"

"You looked hurt… like you-"

"I don't want to talk about it,"

"Well I do. Why won't you tell me?"

"Why do you even care?"

He turned around and stared at her.

"W-well I don't… but… I… its… there's something you're not telling me. Please, Draco?"

She reached out and grabbed his forearm gently.

"What did you just call me?"

"Oh… er… I didn't… I mean-"

He held a hand up, signaling for her to cease her stuttering and decided that he had no choice but to tell her a well kept secret of his childhood.

"It started when I was nine years old. My dad came home one night… he got mad at mother and threatened her. She stood up to him but then he burned her with a spell… he made me sit in front of the fire and watch him burn her… it was horrible."

Hermione was horrified. She knew Malfoy's dad was cold hearted but he had hurt his wife for goodness sake.

"He always abused my mom…"

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

Draco stiffened and tore is arm from her grasp.

"You shouldn't be. Being a Malfoy means you get respect no matter what the cost,"

"That's just stupid!"

"It's only stupid to you because you're a mudblood. You're muggle born and no one has any respect for your kind."

He glared down at her and walked out of her room, making sure to slam the door on his way out.

Hermione stood there, left alone in the room.

She tried to keep her thoughts away from the hurtful things Malfoy had just said.

_"Try to look on the bright side,"_

"_What's that exactly? Because I'm not really feeling a bright side right now,"_

"_Well at least you know why he's kind of messed up,"_

"_Who wouldn't be?"_

"_Are you sticking up for him?"_

"_No… I'm just saying that I would be too if I had seen dad beat mom,"_

"_Whatever…"_

"_Why do I have to have you as my 'voice inside my head'?"_

"_That's just the way it works, dear,"_

"_So what was that bright side again?"_

"_That you have one less 'why' to worry about,"_

"_Oh… thanks,"_

"_I'm always here for you!"_

"_Shut up,"_

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Hermione groaned loudly as she woke up from her long nights sleep.

Turning over, she looked at her clock.

_9:14_

_Thank goodness it's a Saturday…_

_There's something I'm supposed to be doing at 10:00 though…_

_OH, I ALMOST FORGOT! HOGSMEADE!_

She jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom, bursting through the door.

Hermione began to brush her teeth frantically and then take on the task of combing her hair.

Yes, her hair might not be straight and beautiful but instead of the frizzy afro she once had, it was now separated into light curls that hung loosely around her shoulders.

It's a good thing Malfoy's not hogging the bathroom this morning… he takes forever to comb his hair.

"Hermione!"

Hermione exited the bathroom and opened her bedroom door to find Ginny Weasley standing there, a box full of clothes in her arms.

"Ginny? Wha-"

"Hermione, did you just wake up?"

"Yeah, I-"

"We're going to be late if we don't hurry so I brought over some clothes for you!"

"But Ginny I was just going to wear jeans and a jacket,"

"Oh, come now Hermione. That's what you _always_ wear,"

"What's wrong with what I wear?"

"Nothing, nothing. I'm just going to make a few changes,"

"This can't be good…"

Ginny emptied the contents of the box onto her bed and the two got to work on finding something for Hermione to wear.

"Okay, so you choose an outfit you want to wear and I'll choose one that I want you to wear. Then we'll decide," said Ginny as she began searching through the tangle of clothes.

Not a long time after Ginny had made her appearance, they found themselves looking at two different options.

Hermione's first choice, chosen by Ginny, was a denim skirt and a white three-quarter sleeves top with a low neckline.

Her second choice, which she had chosen of course, was a pair of faded jeans and a black shirt with white words across the front.

"We're going with mine," said Ginny quickly.

"What? But I like mine!"

"I've already explained to you that it's what you _always_ wear, Hermione!"

"Fine! But next time I get to choose!"

"If you had worn the outfit you wanted to then you won't get a next time," muttered Ginny.

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing…"

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"Ginny, I AM NOT WEARING THIS!" shouted Hermione as she stood in the bathroom, looking at her reflection in the mirror.

Her skirt only covered a little bit over half of her thighs, which was much too short in her opinion.

The white top was tight fitting, but at least the neckline didn't sink too low.

"Come out and show me, Hermione!"

She couldn't help but blush as she opened the bathroom door to see Ginny's smiling face. She had never worn something so 'revealing' before and it was awkward.

"Oh, you look beautiful Hermione!" squealed Ginny, clapping her hands together.

"I feel so… so… skimpy,"

"Well I think you should wear it,"

And with that, Ginny grabbed Hermione's wrist and pulled her out of her room, towards the Great Hall where they would be meeting Harry and Ron for their trip to Hogsmeade.

"Ginny, slow down its only 9:55,"

"It never hurts to be early!"

Finally, they reached the Great Hall, the two panting slightly but thankful that they had not been sweating.

"Ginny, Hermione!" called Harry who was standing with Ron a few yards away from them.

"Hullo Ginny, Hermi-" Ron's mouth was slightly agape as he stared blankly at Hermione.

"Yes, Ron?"

"Er… you look… you look wonderful, Hermione!"

"Thanks," she said, blushing a little.

"Will you two please hurry up?" Harry said, a little annoyed.

Ron held out his arm to Hermione with a wide grin. She slipped her arm around his and returned his smile happily as they strolled out of the castle with Harry and Ginny talking together closely behind them.

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Not too far away was our favorite Slytherin, Draco Malfoy.

He too was surprised at Hermione's choice of clothing… but had no problem with it at all.

"Stupid Weasley… What a bloody idiot," 

"_Are you jealous?"_

"_No… I just think Weasley is stupid,"_

"_Sure… don't we all…"_

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"So ladies, where do you want to go?" asked Harry as they entered Hogsmeade, the long stretch of shops before them.

"How about that one?" Ginny said, pointing towards a small café a few shops down.

"For some butterbeer I suppose?"

"Hermione, why would we be drinking that kiddy stuff when we could be drinking Firewhisky!"

"You've never even had Firewhisky before, Ron," Harry quirked an eyebrow up.

"Well… well neither have you!"

"Let's just go inside before we freeze!"

The four of them followed Ginny into the café closely, shutting the door tight to escape from the cold.

The café was small, a bar towards the left and several tables scattered around the middle of the room. The right of the room had about four booths, which were lined up against the wall.

They had chosen the booth in the back of the room where it was positioned in front of a large window.

"So is it Firewhisky or not?" Ron asked from sitting beside Harry.

"Just get us butterbeer please, Ron." Hermione was becoming quite irritated with Ron's growing want for Firewhisky. After all, she was sure that if Mrs. Weasley had found out they had drunken any, she'd blow a hole in the roof.

He scurried off towards the bar, to order four butterbeers, leaving Hermione, Ginny, and Harry to talk for a bit.

Once Ginny saw Ron's back turned, she jumped out of her seat next to Hermione and scooted in next to Harry (quite closely I might add…), who smiled at her affectionately.

"I knew it!" whispered Hermione excitedly as she watched the two.

"What are you talking about Hermione?" asked Ginny, glancing in Ron's direction.

"You've fancied him forever Ginny! So he finally asked you?"

"Of course not Hermione. We're just friends," Ginny said.

"We are? Oh…" Harry looked down at his hands with a defeated look on his face.

"No, Harry. I didn't mean it like I don't like you or anything it's just that-"

"It's okay, Ginny. No hurt feelings."

He tried giving her a grin but only succeeded half way. Obviously Harry had thought there was something more between them. Not that there wasn't, but Ginny had her share of flirtacious moments with him.

"Ginny? Why'd you take my seat?"

They turned their heads to see Ron walking over to them, his hands full with four butterbeers, which were beginning to fizz at the top and overflow.

"Ron, maybe you should go and sit next to Hermione," Harry said, ignoring Ron's question.

He grunted and placed two butterbeers in front of Harry and Ginny. Then he scooted in next to Hermione and gave her a butterbeer too, still holding his with two hands on top of the table.

An awkward silence washed over the group of four as they sipped their butterbeer.

Harry seemed a little upset after his short conversation with Ginny, and Ron was busy fiddling with his clothes again once he had downed all of his butterbeer nervously. Hermione was busy staring out the window opposite her, from what she could see, there was a small courtyard outside. In the middle was a fountain, the water frozen with icicles dripping off the sides.

Finally, Hermione broke the silence as she saw two unlikely people walking in the courtyard.

"Is that…?"

"Malfoy and Zabini," Ron spoke up as he had also noticed them outside the window.

"Wonder what they're doing here,"

"I say Ron, it's been a long time since we've had a little fun with some Slytherins," grinned Harry.

"Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley!"

But Harry and Ron had already gotten up from the table and began to open the back door, which led to the courtyard.

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(A/N: The **bold **is Draco's thoughts and the _italic_ is Hermione's thoughts.)

So there stood six Hogwarts seventh years.

Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley standing just outside of the backdoor to the café, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley glaring over at the two Slytherins, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini.

"Well, well, well, nice to see you Potthead, Weasel," came Draco's drawling voice.

"Shut your mouth," Ron snarled.

"So what brings low life creatures such as yourselves here?"

"You're the low life you Slytherins. Especially your father, Malfoy."

_Oh no, Ron._

"What did you say?"

"You heard me."

**Bloody fucking Weasel. What I'd give to punch him right now… but I guess magic'll do.**

Draco whipped out his wand immediately and pointed it at Ron, who also had his wand out.

"Go on, Weasley, say one more word and I'll curse you,"

"Expelliarmus!"

Draco's wand flew out of his hand.

"Ron, stop," interrupted Harry, "We could get detention and we can't miss Quidditch practices,"

"It's not like that would make your worthless team any better,"

"When was the last time you've won the Quidditch cup, Malfoy?"

_Here we go again with Quidditch…_

"That does it!"

Draco lunged forward and punched Ron squarely in the face. He staggered back a little and held his nose, which was bleeding.

Then Harry lost it too. He ran for Draco, punching him fiercely.

"Harry! Stop!" Hermione scrambled forward and tried her best to keep them from punching each other.

Ron shouted a curse, his wand pointed straight at Draco, not realizing Hermione and Harry could get hit with the curse too.

Hermione pushed both Draco and Harry to the side as she herself dropped down to the ground, Ron's spell zooming over her head. It hit a tree, which Blaise had been standing next to and caused it to grow larger and become droopy.

Ginny swiftly pulled Ron's wand from out of his grasp and ran over to Harry who had been lying in the snow.

"Harry, are you alright?"

She reached out and looked over Harry's wounds. One eye looked rather swollen and he had a big bruise on the right side of his forehead.

"I'm fine," he said rather roughly, pulling away from her touch.

"Ron!" Hermione hissed at him.

"Wha-"

"YOU ROTTEN CHILDREN! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"

The six of them all looked up to find a tall, thin woman glaring down at them. Her black hair had been tied up into a messy bun and her clothes looked dusty and dirty.

"I SAID GET OUT!"

Ron and Blaise were the first to rush out of the courtyard through an alley, Harry not far behind. Ginny helped Hermione off of the ground then ran into the alley to catch up with Harry. That left Hermione and Draco…

He got up slowly, muttering something along the lines of 'bloody hell' as he rubbed the back of his head, wincing slightly.

He noticed her gaze and looked up at her, still a flicker of anger in his eyes.

"You alright?" she asked, trying to be nice.

"Fine," he mumbled.

**I don't need anyone looking out for me, especially someone like Granger… even if she does look so cute when she's concerned. WAIT! I didn't say that! Get that thought out of your head Draco!**

"Well it doesn't look like fine,"

_But why should you care anyways Hermione?_

"Listen Granger. Just cause I told you something last night that nobody else knows, and the fact that you saved me from Weasley's curse doesn't mean you're considered as a friend,"

_Stupid Malfoy! I hate him, I hate him, I hate him! I tried to be nice but noooooo he had to go all 'I'm so much better than you' on me!_

"Whatever, Malfoy. Maybe next time I'll let that curse hit you."

She stalked off out of the alley and followed Ron, Harry, and Ginny back up to the castle.

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After breakfast the next day, the great hall's tables had been cleared away to the sides, leaving a very large space in the middle of the room.

Professor Hillside had just arrived and was busy trying to keep the chatter of the seventh years down so that he could be heard.

"Settle down class, settle down. Now, as you all know, the Christmas Ball is coming up."-He ignored the high-pitched squeals and giggles from Parvati and Lavender-"And we have decided to open the ball with our seventh year graduates. So you are all here to learn-or prefect ballroom dancing. I will assign you each a partner, whom you are to dance with every class. But that doesn't mean he or she will have to be your date to the dance now,"

Hermione was ready to punch Parvati and Lavender since their giggles and squeals of joy could not cease.

"Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbot… Harry Potter and Pansy Parkinson… Ronald Weasley and Parvati Patil… Dean Thomas and Millicent Bulstrode…"

Hermione's thoughts wandered off for a moment…

_Hah. Harry and Parkinson? That's quite interesting… and Ron and Parvati! I wonder if Neville's improved on his dancing… hopefully Hannah won't be returning to her common room with swollen toes…_

She was pulled from her thoughts as she heard her name being called.

"Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy."


	6. Great Hall Disaster

_Okay, so this is the sixth chapter and Hermione's still on shaky grounds with Draco, but this is about the last chapter before Draco starts to experience "strange feelings" for our favorite brainy girl so bear with me!_

_Oh, and this is a very short chapter but it's supposed to be. I couldn't make it longer without going too much into the next one so I'll put up chapter seven soon._

**Chapter Six: Great Hall Disaster**

"WHAT?"

_You've got to be kidding me!_

**WHAT THE HELL?**

Hermione stood wide-eyed as everyone turned to look at her. She looked over to where Draco was and he too was getting strange glances.

"Come now, children. The Head Boy and Girl are supposed to represent unity. I'm sure Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy have to problem with it,"

Snickers and stifled laughs could be heard through out the crowd of seventh years.

"Professor, I'm afraid that I have a different opinion…"

"I'm not dancing with Granger!"

"Nonsense! You two will dance together. It's only during class. Now, find your partner that I have assigned to you and space yourselves evenly around the room."

There was the sound of shuffling feet, giggling, and whispers as everyone scrambled around to find their partners.

Seeing as Draco wasn't about to move from his spot, Hermione had to squeeze through the throng of students, elbowed and stepped on a couple of times.

Once everyone had found they're partners, Professor Hillside used a model dummy to explain to the class the different steps.

"Now, when I start the music, I want you all to dance,"

Professor Hillside lifted his hand and with a flick of his wand, the ballroom music began.

Draco took Hermione's hand lightly, an small shock surging throughout their bodies, but the two choosing to ignore it.

As they music filtered out through an old, bewitched record player, the Great Hall was filled with sounds of scuffling and grunting. Apparently, the seventh years weren't the best dancers.

Draco of course had taken lessons since he was young. His mother had forced him into doing so by bribing him with his first broom.

"Granger, stop stepping on my foot. Don't you know how to dance?"

"Sorry, I'm not rich enough to afford dance lessons,"

"Well could you at least not stand so close?"

"I'm standing practically a foot away from you!"

"Now, now, you two. Get closer! You can't dance together when you're five feet apart!" said Professor Hillgide as he pushed Hermione into Draco lightly.

She took this opportunity of silence to view her fellow classmates dancing about awkwardly.

Harry was actually not as bad a dancer as she thought he would be, which seemed to be quite a relief for Pansy who was wearing a small smile on her face-And not the smile that you'd see when she laughed at people-A smile that said she was enjoying herself.

Even if Pansy was having a good time, Harry on the other hand seemed distracted. Every time a red headed girl would twirl past him, he'd stare after her, then snap out of his daze and return his attention to dancing with Pansy.

She knew why Harry was acting like this. Ever since sixth year, Harry had become quite close to Ginny and now had quite a big crush on her. Not a big crush as in he was obsessed with her or anything, mind you.

Hermione didn't realize why Ginny hadn't caught on to Harry yet. It was true that Ginny did like Harry but Ginny had had her fair share of relationships, all ending on her terms, and maybe it was the fact she didn't want to break Harry's heart. Then again, why would she flirt with Harry? She made a mental note to talk to Ginny about this later.

She looked over towards where Ron was dancing with Parvati. They had mildly bored expressions on their faces.

Hannah and Neville, believe it or not, we're having what looked like a wonderful time. Neville hadn't stepped on Hannah's feet at all, unlike her and Malfoy and a smile spread across Neville's face every time Professor Hillgide commented him on how good he was at ballroom dancing.

Only then did Hermione seem to feel the gaze of Malfoy upon her. She looked up and nearly fell over as she found herself staring into his eyes. Normally his eyes were a cold grey color. But as he gazed down upon her, they had now become two silvery-blue pools.

_"Don't blush Hermione, don't blush,"_

"_You know you're going too,"_

"_No I'm not!"_

"_Why would you be worrying about blushing anyways? He's just Draco Malfoy, the person you hate,"_

"_I don't know…"_

"_You fancy him don't you?"_

"_No! And even if I did, he would never think of someone like me in that way,"_

"_That's your problem. You don't think anything of yourself!"_

"_Ugh. Bugger off,"_

"_I can't,"_

"_And why not?"_

"_Because I'm stuck inside your head, remember?"_

Hermione couldn't hold it in any longer. She felt herself blush immediately once Professor Hillgide had pushed her against Malfoy.

She didn't even notice her hand slide down onto Malfoy's chest until she realized that he too was blushing.

**"Look at that, Draco. You've made her blush,"**

"…"

"**She looks even more beautiful when she blushes, doesn't she?"**

"**Yeah I guess…WIAT! I didn't mean that,"**

"**And you're starting to blush too!"**

"**No I'm not!"**

"Granger… uh… your hand… it's…" he stuttered.

**"Way to go, man. You don't sound nervous at all,"**

"W-what? Oh… er…"

_"Come on, Hermione. I know you felt that rock hard chest!"_

"OUCH!"

"What?"

"MALFOY! You stepped on my toe!"

"It's not like you didn't do that to me a couple of times too, Granger,"

"Well I'm not six three!"

"Yeah… you're right. More like four feet nothing,"

"I'm not four feet tall! I'm five seven for you're information, Malfoy,"

"You don't look like it,"

"You know, I'm sure I could find a lovely spell that would make you shrink to when you were a first year,"

"At least I'll be a very handsome first year,"

"You're not even handsome now, Mal-OUCH!"

As Draco had begun to spin her around, he let go and started to laugh uncontrollably as she fell to the ground ungracefully on her butt.

"Oops-I'm so terribly-Sorry," he said in between breaths.

She glared at him and kicked his shin, causing him to fall over as well.

"What the fuck, mudblood?"

He grasped his leg in pain.

"Mr. Malfoy! That's no way to talk to Miss Granger!"

But before Professor Hillgide could say another word, Hermione had gotten up from the ground and had stormed out of the Great Hall, shouting as she went.

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Yesterday had been horrible.

Hermione was bruised from her butt down to her toes, which made it unpleasant to walk and sit down.

But today was Hermione's second day of detention with the house elves down in the kitchen, and she'd have to make the best of it… even if it was with the very person who gave her all those bruises.

Ginny had laid out an outfit for her the night before, which she couldn't take her eyes off every time she walked past her dresser.

It consisted of a blue tee-shirt with a long white skirt, which reached a little bit above her ankles.

The outfit was something she actually didn't have a problem wearing. The skirt wasn't too short and the top wasn't extremely revealing either so she was quite pleased with Ginny's choice of attire for her.

She had just gotten back from her dancing fiasco with Malfoy and had just enough time to clean up a little before her detention.

Slipping off her shoes, she found her toes were red from Malfoy stepping on them and her pinky toe seemed to have a small blister on it.

"Maybe a nice little soak in the tub would help."

She opened the door quickly, stumbling into the bathroom for she was hopping on one foot (the foot that wasn't as red), to find Draco Malfoy half naked.

_Hello again! I have to go back to school soon! So I don't think I'll be updating in a while… maybe I'll post another chapter up before school starts!_


	7. A Drunk Draco

**I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to take me so long to update! It's just that I've been soooo busy with school. Usually after school I have practice for two hours and then when I get home I have to finish my homework, which takes almost two more hours so then I barely have anytime to write and then I try to spend time with friends and…! UGH! But enough about my stressed out life and onto the next chapter!**

**Chapter Seven: A Drunk Draco**

"Good morning, Granger. Was there something you needed?" smirked Malfoy, fixing the best of his jeans.

"Uh… I-I…" She couldn't stop herself from staring at him. His chest and stomach looked well toned and even sexier than she could have imagined (not that she was of course).

"You handled that pretty well. Usually girls either faint or think they're dreaming,"

"Get over y-yourself, Malfoy,"

"I think that's impossible,"

"Just go away,"

"I'm not done in here yet,"

"Fine. I'll wait,"

"Okay. Go ahead and wait then,"

"I am waiting!"

"Now, stop repeating what I say,"

"I'm not repeating what you say,"

"You just did it again,"

"Nevermind! Just tell me when you're ready to leave… and make sure you're fully dressed!"

"I know you wish I wasn't,"

"Just change already!"

"Okay. By the way Granger,"

"What?"

"Nice toes,"

"They wouldn't be so swollen and red if you hadn't stepped on them!"

"Aaah, right,"

She slipped out of the door and slammed it shut, leaning against it and trying to calm her heart down. The whole time it was beating so fast that she was sure Malfoy could even hear it!

"I guess Quidditch does work… I wonder if Ron looks like tha-"

"You know Granger. I can still hear you."

Hermione's heart skipped a beat as she heard Malfoy speak from behind the door. He had heard her! She gulped and her cheeks turned a bright red instantly.

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"Malfoy, please tell me you're done!" she yelled from the other side of the door fifteen minutes later.

Honestly, Malfoy spent more time in the bathroom than she did, taking a bath included.

"Hold your horses, Granger!" he yelled back.

Finally, after another ten minutes, Draco appeared out of his room, Hermione who had nearly fallen asleep had been waiting for him on the large couch in front of the fireplace.

Her skirt billowed around her as she stood up abruptly.

"You know, you take more time in there than normal girls do," she pointed out to him as they walked down to the kitchens.

"At least I don't spend it brushing an afro,"

"I don't have an afro!"

"Then what's that?"

"F.Y.I., I've grown out of my 'afro' since sixth year!"

"Well it isn't as poofy as it used to be, I guess-"

"Ron!"

Hermione ran happily over to where Ron stood leaning against the wall next to the portrait of the to-be-tickled pear.

He welcomed her into a tight hug, which she accepted graciously, thankful for a reason to get away from Malfoy.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to ask you something,"

"Okay."

He pulled her down the corridor so that a glaring Malfoy wouldn't be able to hear their conversation.

"So…?"

"Well, Herm. I was wondering…"

"Yes Ron?"

"Would you like to go to the Christmas Ball with me?"

She looked at Ron. His face was turning beet red from his cheeks to his ears. For a moment, she thought she felt her heart flutter, but no. Still, she smiled at him and gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"…So is that a yes?"

He called after her as she skipped off to the portrait where Malfoy was waiting for her.

"What do you think?"

She smiled at him seductively before disappearing into the portrait door, Malfoy following her.

"What was that all about?" Draco asked her once they had begun working on they're task for the rest of the day.

Hermione and Draco sat opposite each other, two wooden tubs in front of them. One held grapes, which were bewitched to have alcohol in it. The other was contained the squeezed alcoholic grape juice.

"None of your business,"

"Come on Granger. It's not like he asked you out or something,"

"Well, just to tell you Malfoy, Ron asked me to the Christmas Ball."

Draco stared at her, shocked. And for the second time that year, he felt a jolt of jealousy run through him. It had not occurred to him that anyone would ask her, let alone the idea that it would be Weasley. But there was no point in caring about this. He obviously was having the putrid pleasure of taking Pansy to the Ball. There was never a dance when he didn't. It wasn't like there weren't any other girls that were willing to go with him. So many had asked him that he couldn't even keep track. But he had a deal with Pansy. If he went to dances with her, it would "up" her social status and she would then refrain from talking to him for a precious two weeks. How he had adored the last two weeks he spent Pansy-free last year… but it had ended much to quickly for his liking though.

"How nice. I'm sure you two will have a lovely time eating,"

"We don't just eat, Malfoy. Do you not realize the reason why Professor Hilgide teaches us ballroom dancing?"

"So that we do a short little jig and then get to eat,"

"Sometimes you can be so stupid,"

"And other times…?"

"Even more stupid,"

"Just because you're 'so smart' you think you know everything,"

"That's how I'm head girl, Malfoy,"

"Don't have to rub it in,"

"Malfoy, you're head boy. Do you not get why you're head boy?"

"Oh just shut it, Granger. I can't stand your annoying jibbering."

She glared at him and began to squeeze the grapes faster, one by one.

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The hours dragged on and soon enough, the tub of wine was almost filled up to the rim when Draco took a goblet that sat on a nearby table and swiftly scooped up some of the wine.

"MALFOY!" Hermione hissed at him, afraid the house elves might hear, "What are you doing?"

"Having a little refreshment," he replied, taking a swig from the goblet of wine.

"Have it your way. But you better drink anymore."

She left Malfoy alone as she swerved around the many shelves of ingredients, looking for some clean pitchers to put the wine in.

About fifteen minutes later, she wandered back to where she had been squeezing grapes before, her arms full with several pitchers.

"Oh no…" she whispered.

Malfoy was leaning back, tilting his chair and swinging the goblet around in his hands, spilling wine all over his white shirt. He grinned at her and then took another gulp of the wine.

"Heeeeeeeello, Gggggranger," he said, patting his stomach and grinning again.

"Malfoy! I told you not to drink anymore!"

He ignored her and leaned forward, scooping up another goblet full of wine.

"Give me that," she snapped as she snatched the goblet from his hand and placed it on a shelf.

He reached for it but she pushed him back to sit upright on his chair and began to clean up the spilled wine on the floor with a rag she had found on another shelf.

"You're real pretty,"

Hermione stared up at him and her heart softened. He was smiling down at her with an adorable, yet drunk grin.

But she forced herself to remember that he was under the influence of alcohol and that he obviously didn't know what he was saying.

"Will you marry me?"

Yup. He's drunk.

"Malfoy, you idiot, how drunk can you get in fifteen minutes?"

"Aw I didn't drink thaaaaaaat much,"

"Oh just forget it. I guess I'll ask Dobby to finish this."

She helped Draco up onto his feet and had to hold him steady as they walked towards the portrait.

Dobby scurried forward once they had reappeared from the maze of shelves and was more than happy to follow Hermione's instructions.

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The walk back to the common room seemed even longer than usual. The hallways seemed to grow with each step she took.

She was half carrying Malfoy who insisted that he wanted dinner and trying to avoid the corridors that were most popular for walking to the Great Hall.

"Ha haaaaa. I'm getting kind of huuungry," he said, draping his arm around Hermione for support.

"Well if you hadn't gotten so drunk you would be able to go the Great Hall,"

"Would you be a dear and get Mr. Malfoy some food?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Hah. Pleeease!"

She turned her head to the right to see him putting on a cute little child pout.

Her heart softened and for a moment, she felt as if it was a good thing that Malfoy had gotten himself drunk. But then she looked ahead and remembered how many more corridors she would have to drag him down before they reached the common room.

"Not right now. I have to take you up to the common room first,"

"Fine."

The silence between the two made it easier for Hermione to concentrate and finally, she was able to set Malfoy down on the common room couch.

"Food now?"

"I'll be right back and then you'll get your food, okay?"

He nodded and sank back into the cushy couch, waiting patiently.

Hermione, smiling to herself sprinted down to the Great Hall in a whirl of torn and burnt robes (courtesy of Malfoy), nearly slipping on the stone floor as she skidded to a halt in front of the Gryffindor table.

"Hermione! I-" Ron began.

"I can't stay," she said, scooping up several rolls of bread.

"Why? Where are you going?" asked Harry.

"…Back to the common room,"

"Humwuk?" said Ron through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"You could call it that,"

"Well we'll see you tomorrow then."

She smiled at Harry, so polite. Sometimes she wished that Ron would learn from him. But Ron never liked being told what to do so she let it go.

This time, the common room didn't seam as far off as it did the last time. Though she did nearly drop the large plate of food.

Malfoy was more than pleased when she placed the plate in front of him.

He looked absolutely gleeful, like a little boy. Something she had never seen him do.

He dug into the mess immediately and nearly cracked the plate as he stabbed his fork down into a piece of meat.

"Do you usually eat like this?" Hermione asked, striking up a conversation.

He stopped eating for a moment, then picked up his plate and shoved it at her, a grin wide across his face.

"I am pretty hungry…"

She grabbed two rolls of bread and began biting them fiercely.

It was really a sight to see. Hermione Granger attacking a roll of bread while Draco Malfoy sat across from her, stabbing every bit of food on his plate like he was a hunter spearing fish.

And soon enough, all the food was gone and the plate was cleared.

She escorted Malfoy up to his room for he was unable to walk straight without falling into the wall.

It was her first time seeing his room. It was similar to hers, except he didn't have books and clothes around the place.

She stared at his dresser, wondering if he had yet figured out what it was used for until she froze and nearly could have melted.

He was unbuttoning his shirt, then became frustrated and ripped the buttons off. His rock hard abs wasn't something new to Hermione. She had of course seen it earlier that very day. But it was still pretty mouth watering.

He loosened his belt and slowly got into bed, nearly tripping over the rug.

"Good night then, Malfoy,"

"Wait. Granger?" he asked sleepily.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

That night Hermione had one of the most peaceful sleeps she had had in years. Images ran through her mind of her days so far at Hogwarts. And she felt pleased with her life. Pleased with _everything_ that had happened.

**Okay well that is NOT THE END! I still have tons of chapters left. Hope you guys enjoyed this one! Personally, I wasn't planning on putting the whole Draco got drunk thing in here but I was listening to the song Untitled by Simple Plan and just got the idea. I wanted to leave a cliffhanger but then it would sort of mess up my plans for the other chapters. But I'll tell you guys one thing. Draco and Hermie end up getting a lot closer in the next chapter. They end up fighting in the beginning but then… well I'm just giving away tooooo much now! Haha…**


	8. The After Math of the War

_**In memory of all those lives lost on September 11.**_

**Chapter Eight: The After Math of the War**

The next morning Hermione woke up to the sound of something spilling in the bathroom and the flushing of a toilet.

She crawled out of bed and slowly opened the bathroom door. The smell of half digested food reached her senses and she gagged.

Draco was leaning over the toilet, throwing up.

He reached up and flushed the toilet again.

"Malfoy… are you okay?" she asked hesitantly.

He shook his head and lurched forward, arching his back and threw up again.

Hermione's expression turned from concern to disgust as she quickly closed the door and began to get ready for another day.

Today was Sunday, most of the student's last days of relaxation till they had to wait till next weekend.

In her case though, today was when she finished double-checking all her schoolwork and then she would probably go and support Ron and Harry during their Quidditch practice.

Harry wanted this year to be their best since it was most of the teams last time playing Quidditch at Hogwarts.

But before she began her Ancient Runes homework, she decided to go down for some breakfast in the Great Hall. Maybe Harry and Ron would be there too so that she wouldn't have to eat alone so early in the morning.

The Great Hall was practically empty with the exception of around five students to every table.

Hermione chose a seat at the end of the table. Away from the small groups of first years who were chattering about, eager to get an early start on the day.

She wasn't that hungry. The night before she had eaten so much that by the time she had finished, she felt pregnant.

A glass of pumpkin juice and some scrambled eggs were enough to fill her and once she was done she headed back up to her room to begin her work.

Draco was still sick and stooped over the toilet when she returned not too much later.

She tried to get him to visit Madam Pomfrey who could clear it with a simple potion but he refused.

She said that if he didn't go soon then she would force herself to go and get one for him because she couldn't stand the smell.

But the smell wasn't what bothered her the most. She felt like it was her fault he was sick. If she hadn't left him alone with a tub full of wine then he wouldn't be throwing up right now.

As she started to double-check her Ancient Rune's essay, she couldn't concentrate very well due to the sound of liquid being splattered on the tile floor. It was nearly unbearable so moved to the common room and made herself comfortable on the couch. The sound of Draco in the bathroom was still audible, though she was able to block it out after a while.

Soon, an hour later, she had finished double-checking her essay and had come to find that she could no longer hear him.

This concerned her a little but she shoved the thought to the back of her mind and began on some other homework.

But the silence made it even worse for her to concentrate.

She finally made the decision to go and check up on him and to make sure that he hadn't fainted or something.

The bathroom was empty and it didn't smell anymore. It looked new and like it hadn't even been used yet.

She opened Draco's bathroom door and found he was lying face up on his bed. His eyes were closed but you could tell that he was not sleeping.

"Malfoy?" she asked, stepping into the room she had visited not to long ago.

He grumbled and turned on his side so that she could only see his back.

"You feeling better?"

He didn't answer again and continued to lie there motionless.

Hermione began to grow impatient. She was trying to be nice to him and all he did was ignore her.

"Well if you're not going to talk to me then I'll just leave you here."

She turned to leave him in peace but the rustle of bed sheets stopped her.

He cleared his throat and when he spoke, his voice was hoarse and dry.

"I'm tired."

She looked at him curiously.

"Well you have been up for a while."

He stared up at the ceiling.

"Do you want me to get Madam Pomfrey?" she asked again.

He shook his head.

"No. I just need to sleep."

She nodded and left him to rest for a while.

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Draco had just woken up from a well-needed sleep. He had no intention of dozing off but he was too tired to think at the time.

He headed downstairs to see if Granger was there. He needed help with his DADA homework.

"Granger?" he called to her, seeing her curly brown head pop out from behind a large armchair.

"I see that you're feeling better. I told you not to drink so much, Malfoy. You-"

"I came down here to ask for help on homework not for you to act like my mother,"

"Sorry. I was just saying that you should be more responsible,"

"I didn't even drink that much, Granger,"

"The tub was practically half empty!"

"So? That's not a lot. Not to me. I've drunk much more at parties,"

"It's still not good for you. Slytherin or not, you shouldn't be drinking,"

"What would a goody-too-shoes like you know about alcohol?"

"Quite a bit,"

"Is it because you're such a hard core drink or something?" he asked mockingly.

She glared at him and placed the book she was reading on her lap.

"No. It's because I've read about it."

He snorted and fell back into one of the armchairs facing opposite of her.

"That's what I'd expect from someone like you,"

"What's that supposed to mean? That you're so much better than me?"

"Well, yes,"

"At what? Drinking? I haven't seen you work hard for anything!"

"Trust me, Granger. I work my ass off to-"

_Knock knock._

They both turned their heads to look at the portrait door.

Draco looked over at Hermione as if to ask who would open the door. More or less, who knew where the head common room was.

She rose from her seat and crossed the room, then let the portrait swing open.

"Ginny!" she exclaimed, embracing her friend with a tight hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Dumbledore told me to give this to you."

She handed Hermione a sealed letter that read: _'Mr. Malfoy & Miss Granger'_

"Thanks Gin."

Ginny smiled up at her.

"I've got to tell you something later,"

"Sure thing. See you at dinner."

Ginny left Hermione standing in the doorway, contemplating about what Ginny wanted to tell her. Her only conclusion was that it was either Ginny had finally found a new love interest (she had already put Harry on post phone because he was to busy being in love with Cho Chang last year), or that her mother had given her enough money to go shopping at Hogsmeade. Which meant that she would have to go along with Ginny too.

"What was Weasley doing here?" Draco asked her once she had come back into the common room.

Hermione didn't speak. She had already ripped open the letter and was reading Dumbledore's slanting script.

_Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger,_

_If you please, will the both of you report to my office at once. I have some things to discuss with you two before I leave for the night on some Ministry business._

_Yours sincerely, Professor Albus Dumbledore_

"Granger, I'm asking you a question."

He waved his hands up at her to catch her attention.

"Dumbledore needs us to go to his office."

He looked at her quizzically but simply shrugged his shoulders and followed her out the door and down the corridor to Dumbledore's office.

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Once they had arrived, Dumbledore began to explain to them quickly.

"I am sorry that I'm in so much of a hurry today. But the Ministry business is urgent. I know that my manners are terrible but I hope you two don't mind if I start to get ready."

They shook their heads and watched him rise from his desk and begin to pull on his purple robe.

"Well, as I was saying in that letter, I wanted to inform the both of you that as Head Boy and Head Girl, it is your duty to choose the area in which the Christmas Ball will he held this year,"

"When do we have to get started on it?" Hermione asked.

"In around a month I presume."

They shook their heads again.

"Well I must be off then. Don't forget to start patrolling the corridors later tonight."

And with a pop, he was gone and the office was empty.

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Hermione and Ginny sat on a rock overlooking the lake.

They were simply talking as friends do.

"So was there something you needed to tell me, Ginny?" Hermione asked her.

"Yeah. I don't know how to put it though… oh Hermione, please don't think I'm a stupid idiot and that I'm weird!"

"Ginny, I already think that."

Ginny frowned and stared at Hermione sadly as she began to laugh.

"I'm only kidding! Don't worry. You can tell me anything,"

"Okay… but don't laugh,"

"I promise I won't,"

"Well… I think I sort of kind of in a way-"

"Ginny just get to the point!"

"I think I like Blaise Zabini!"

Ginny gasped and covered her mouth, her eyes growing wide. She waited for Hermione to burst out laughing or say that she was in fact an idiot of having feelings for a Slytherin.

"There's nothing wrong with that,"

"B-but aren't you upset or something?"

"Why would I be Ginny? It's your choice."

Ginny let out a sigh of relief and began to stare out at the lake.

"He's a Slytherin though,"

"So?"

"But isn't that going against some law or something?"

"I've read about a million books and I've never heard any kind of law like that,"

"I still don't know. Ron's head would explode if he knew,"

"That's for sure… how do you know Zabini anyways?"

"Well one night it was after curfew and I was walking to the common room when I ran into Blaise and-"

"Oh god, Ginny. Don't tell me you snogged him right then and there when you don't even know him,"

"No! I would never do such a thing! I simply ran into him and we started talking for a while,"

"I thought he was stuck up and snobby though,"

"He's not. He's really sweet,"

"But doesn't he have tons of girls chasing after him?"

"I guess. But he told me that he's never had a girlfriend,"

"Hmm… interesting… you do know he's Malfoy's best friend right?"

"Yeah. He told me about that… maybe I should just forget about him. How would I ever get a guy like him?"

"Ginny, you have boys chasing after you too,"

She sighed once more.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll let it go. Like I did Harry…"

"Well something tells me that you're going to be having a busy year Ginny,"

"I know! I can't believe how much homework we're getting!"

"I'm not talking about homework,"

"Hermione! Are you saying that all of a sudden I'm going to have Blaise, Harry and god knows who else chasing after me?"

"Possibly…"

"You always seem to see the bright side of things. I'm so glad I have someone like you to talk to! I could never tell Ron or mum about this,"

"I'm always here for you Ginny,"

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"What are we even supposed to be looking for?" Draco asked as they patrolled the corridors that night.

"Students out of bed,"

"I was always out of bed past curfew and I never got caught,"

"Maybe that's because down in the dungeons they don't care much,"

"What do y-"

"GET ME OUT!" came a shrill scream from somewhere farther down the corridor.

"Did you hear that?" she asked nervously.

"It sounds like it came from over there."

He pointed over to the end of the corridor where the torchlight wasn't as strong.

They walked cautiously, wands in front of them.

"Lumos," she whispered. Her wand tip lit up like a bright ball of light and they continued forward into the darkening part of the corridor.

"HELP ME!" the voice said again.

"Where is that voice coming from?"

"OVER HERE!"

Hermione looked up and down the corridor but there was no one in sight.

"It sounds like a boy," Draco said, breaking the scilence.

"How do you know?"

Draco merely shrugged his shoulders and began to stare at a portrait in front of him.

"There's no one here though."

Hermione was confused. Where was the voice coming from? It's not like he was in some room around here because the walls and doors were sound proof. But her train of thought was interrupted when Draco spoke again.

"…I think I found him."

She turned on her heal to look at him. He was still staring up at the portrait but this time she noticed something. That portrait hadn't been there before… or at least she didn't remember a little boy wearing Hogwarts robes in it, pounding his fists against the glass.

"How did you get in there?" she asked, taking a step forward.

"I was walking and then this thing that looked like a short little man came flying at me! He said something weird and then I got trapped in here!" the boy said exasperatedly.

"Peeves," Draco muttered.

"Well what are we going to do?"

"I don't know. _You_ must know something in that big brain of yours,"

"That Peeves always comes around when he sees an opportunity to make people even angrier,"

"That's it?"

"Shut up, Malfoy. Could you do better?"

"COULD YOU TWO PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE?"

"If Malfoy wasn't such a stuck up prat-"

"And if Granger wasn't such a snotty bookworm-"

"SHUT YOUR MOU-"

"Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger! What is going on here!"

All three of them turned to face Professor McGonagall stalking towards them with a fuming expression.

They both pointed to the portrait where the little boy was still trapped.

"Oh my! How did he get in there?"

"Peeves,"

"Peeves' magic isn't very strong. I'll have him out in a jiffy."

With the flick of her wand, the little boy fell out of the portrait and Professor McGonagall escorted him off to his dormitory.

That left Draco and Hermione to walk back to the heads common room on their own.

"Even if I'm a bookworm, I'm not snotty,"

"Well you always act like you know everything,"

"I don't. But I want too,"

"If that's why you read so many books then that's just stupid because nobody knows _everything_,"

"Dumbledore knows a lot of things,"

"That may be true but that oaf doesn't know everything, Granger,"

"Don't talk about Dumbledore like that! He's a better wizard than you'll ever be!"

"He can't live forever,"

"No one can live forever. Except if you used something to help you,"

"But I'm sure you would love it if your boyfriend Weasley could live forever?"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Then why did you say yes to him?"

"That doesn't make him my boyfriend, Malfoy! You said yes to Parkinson for the Yule Ball!"

"It's different!"

"Why? Was it because you couldn't find anyone else to go with the sorry excuse for a man that you are?"

"You can't talk to me like that, Granger,"

"I can talk to you however I want! Just because you're a Malfoy you think your so much better then everyone! Well guess what, you're not! Being a pureblood doesn't make you any more deserving for things than anyone else!"

"Then why is it that purebloods get everything they want?"

"Like what? A new broom every time you ask? Wow,"

"Shut up, Granger. You don't know anything about being a pureblood since you're a dirty little mudblood,"

"Excuse me Malfoy?"

"You heard me! You don't even deserve to know what magic is. You should have been left as a muggle. It would make this place a much better school and-"

Hermione lost it. She ran at Draco and slapped him across the face.

"OUCH! BLOODY HELL, GRANGER!"

"I've had it with you! Why can't you just be nice for a change?"

"It's not like you were ever nice to me!"

"Maybe that's because once you learned that I wasn't a pureblood, you treated me like a bag of dirt when you don't even know me!"

Draco opened his mouth to say something but he couldn't think of anything. She was right. He had treated her with no respect whatsoever when he didn't even know her.

There was nothing more he could say.

"I'm sorry."

"Y-you're what?"

"I said that I'm sorry, Granger,"

"Well… I'm sorry too then."

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That night as Hermione lay in her bed, for the second night in a row she thought about the things that had just happened. For once in her life, maybe she wouldn't have to worry about Malfoy being angry with her anymore.

Wow this chapter was longer than usual. I really thought it would be short but I added a lot more in. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it!


	9. Dirty Little Secret

_I know I haven't updated in about... FOREVER! But school is getting pretty demanding now days. But I promise I'll try to update at least once a week (probably on the weekends)!_

**Chapter Nine: Dirty Little Secret**

The next morning, Hermione woke up early for a good start on the day. In fact, so early that she was able to look around her room for a bit. She hadn't taken notice of many things, but found something quite interesting sitting on her dresser. She didn't have anything as fancy as it at home. The closest thing to it was her portable C.D. player. So it wasn't much of a surprise to see Hermione bent over the large stereo atop her dresser with great interest.

She inspected the stereo, pressed a large round button and watched the lid rise up mechanically. Hopping over her bed and rummaging around her suitcase for a C.D., she found Move Along by The All-American Rejects.

The C.D. began to play…

_Let me know that I've done wrong _

_When I've known this all along _

_I go around a time or two _

_Just to waste my time with you_

"HERMIONE!" came a loud female voice from over the sound of the music. "OPEN UP!"

She turned the volume down a bit and scrambled over towards the door. But before she could open it, a flustered red head came bounding in, nearly hitting her in the face with her arms.

"Ginny? What are you doing?" she exclaimed.

"I," –breath-, "have to give you," –breath-, "this note."

_Tell me all that you've thrown away _

_Find out games you don't wanna play _

_You are the only one that needs to know_

She handed him a folded piece of parchment with her name in barely-readable writing across it.

"Whose it from?"

"Just read it, Hermione," Ginny said, once she had caught her breath.

_I'll keep you my dirty little secret _

_(Dirty little secret)_

_Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret _

_(Just another regret, hope that you can keep it) _

_My dirty little secret_

**Hermione: meet me at the lake during the first break.**

Ron 

_Who has to know _

_When we live such fragile lives _

_It's the best way we survive _

_I go around a time or two _

_Just to waste my time with you_

"Wow. Very romantic,"

"Oh come on. Ron couldn't say or do anything romantic – much less write something romantic – if his life depended on it,"

"He could at least try,"

"I think he did."

Ginny walked across the room to her dresser where the music was playing softly from the stereo.

"Honestly… Ron can be so thick," she thought to herself.

Suddenly, Hermione felt as if her ears were about to burst.

"GINNY? WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"I JUST TURNED IT UP A BIT," she said innocently.

"A BIT?"

_Tell me all that you've thrown away _

_Find out games you don't wanna play _

_You are the only one that needs to know_

She ran over to Ginny, covering her ears with her hands and fumbled around for the button that turned down the volume. But Ginny had turned the volume up so loud that the stereo was stuck on 95.

Hermione felt around her drawers for her wand but it was nowhere. She tried her trunk. It wasn't there either.

"USE YOUR WAND TO TURN IT DOWN!"

"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!"

"GIN-"

"WHOA! IS THERE A PARTY GOING ON IN HERE?"

Blaise Zabini stood in the doorway to the bathroom, a smirk playing across his handsome face.

Before Hermione or Ginny could say something, Draco had followed Blaise into the room with his ears covered as well.

"BLAISE! GET BACK HERE I-"

_I'll keep you my dirty little secret _

_(Dirty little secret) _

_Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret _

_(Just another regret, hope that you can keep it) _

_My dirty little secret _

Draco bounded into the room after Blaise, nearly sliding across the floor and into the wall on the other side.

"COME TO JOIN THE PARTY, DRACO?" Blaise asked mockingly.

"THERE'S NO PARTY GOING ON IN HERE AND WE'RE TRYING TO TURN THE MUSIC DOWN!" shouted Hermione.

"BUT I LIKE THIS SONG!"

Then Blaise began to sing.

"Who has to know? The way she feels inside, those thoughts I can't deny. These sleeping dogs won't lie! And now I try to lie, it's eating me apart. Trace this life back!"

"SHUT UP BLAISE! YOU SING LIKE A SACK OF POTATOES!" Draco shouted to him, obviously amused to some degree.

_I'll keep you my dirty little secret _

_(Dirty little secret) _

_Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret _

_(Just another regret)_

Blaise ignored Draco's remark and walked across the room towards where Ginny stood next to the stereo, smiling.

"AND WHO MIGHT YOU BE MY DEAR?" he asked seductively.

Ginny giggled as he kissed her hand.

"THIS IS NOT THE PLACE OR THE TIME TO START SEDUCING MY BEST FRIEND!" Hermione shouted at Blaise.

"I AGREE!" said Draco.

Blaise rolled his eyes and let go of Ginny's hand.

"UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN."

He did a dramatic bow, winked at Ginny and left the room swiftly.

"YOU'VE GOT A PRETTY WEIRD FRIEND THERE,"

"SO I'VE NOTICED…"

_I'll keep you my dirty little secret _

_(Dirty little secret) _

_Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret _

_(Just another regret, hope that you can keep it) _

_My dirty little secret _

_Dirty little secret _

_Dirty little secret_

Draco turned to leave, but was stopped when Hermione tugged lightly on his wrist.

"Er…?"

She motioned over towards the stereo.

"Right."

_Who has to know _

_Who has to know_

With a flick of his wand, the music stopped and there was silence in the room once again.

"Thanks."

He exited the room and returned to his own to get ready for class.

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Potions had been a bore as usual. She spent the time scribbling down the notes that Ron and Harry would probably want to copy after class.

To Neville's relief, Snape decided on just notes for the class and that they wouldn't have to make any strange concoction that day.

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After class she had gone down to the lake to see Ron. The other students were busy either relaxing in their common rooms or outside enjoying the fall weather.

She couldn't see him, but his eyes followed her from the time she walked out onto the grounds.

He sat under a willow tree with Blaise who was blabbing on about who were the hottest girls in school this year.

But his thoughts left Blaise's conversation as envy shot through his veins. He laid eyes on Weasley. Hermione was walking towards him happily. Oh how he envied Ronald Weasley. He didn't envy who or what Ron was but his relationship to Hermione. She was his best friend.

He watched Weasley grab Hermione's hand, fighting the urge to stand up and walk over there.

He didn't know why he felt this way. It was a new feeling for him.

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"So… you wanted to talk with me?" Hermione asked Ron as they walked hand in hand along the shore of the lake.

"Yeah. Do you think Ginny would mind going with Harry to the Christmas Ball?" he asked nervously.

"Well, I don't know."

Ron looked at her curiously, trying to decipher if she was hiding something or not.

In fact, she was. She couldn't exactly tell Ron about Blaise Zabini, a Slytherin no less, had been flirting with his younger sister.

"Harry told me to ask you. Since you two are so close and all,"

"Oh…"

"I think Ginny would go with anyone to the ball… even Malfoy possibly…"

They walked in silence for another ten minutes. Hermione tried to strike up another conversation again but her attempt failed. She couldn't find anything to talk about with him. This usually wasn't a problem for her with anybody. Even when she was alone with Harry everything was normal. But she felt like she had to be on her toes at all times when with Ron.

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"-Sara is pretty hot too but… Draco, mate, what are you staring at?"

He grunted at Blaise's question and continued to stare at Hermione and Weasley.

"DRACO!" Blaise shouted at his friend. "You're screwing up your essay…"

Draco looked down and saw that he had been digging his quill into his wad of parchment. There was ink splattered all over the paper and he was surprised that he hadn't broken the quill in two.

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"Well… so how is it being in all those smart classes?"

"Malfoy's actually smarter then me probably."

There was silence.

"There's really nothing to talk about, Ron,"

"Yeah."

She dropped his hand and turned slightly to look out at the lake. Ron stared at her back and reached out to grab her hand again but she pulled away.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I just don't feel like holding your hand right now…"

"I'm sure you'd rather hold Malfoy's hand," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"You talk about him an awful lot now,"

"No I don't,"

"Is there something you're not telling me?"

"What's wrong with you, Ron? You're overreacting! Just because I was talking about Malfoy doesn't mean I like him like that!"

"But you're admitting you like him!"

"He wouldn't make a bad friend."

Ron stared at her and clenched his fists. It was like he was loosing her to Malfoy. She wasn't the same anymore. He could hardly even recall a time when she had fought back with him like this.

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He hadn't realized what he was doing until he was only a few yards away from them. He had jumped up and blocked Blaise's voice from his mind. He had seen them arguing and he had also seen Weasley clench his fists. Draco was sure that he was about to smack her in the face. But he had stopped himself just in time. If he had taken another couple of steps they would have seen him and that would probably just make the situation worse.

"DRACO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Blaise's voice reached him from his seat under the tree.

"Just checking the weather for Quidditch practice…" He told him once he had returned.

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Hermione was so furious by now that she had simply decided to walk away from Ron. She stomped up the stairs and down the corridors in a fury until she had reached her common room. She decided to stay up there until her next class.

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Later that night, after his dinner had finished, he had snuck out with Blaise and they were now on their way to have a little fun with Filch.

Blaise had come up with the perfect prank. They were going to sneak into Filch's office and hang fake stunned Mrs. Norris look-a-likes around the room. It was simple procedure, really. Blaise had taken some of Mrs. Norris' hair and stole some polyjuice potion from Snape's cabinet along with several rats he found running around the castle corridors. **(A/N: The book never really mentioned anything about animals being turned into other animals so I'm just guessing that there isn't something that could go horribly wrong with it)** His plan was to mix the cat hair into the polyjuice potion and feed some to each of the rats so that they would all turn into Mrs. Norris. Then they'd simply stun and hang them up.

Blaise had snuck into Draco's dorm at midnight and once the clock had struck past ten, they leapt out the window and slid down a few roofs till they reached Filch's office window.

Blaise looked down at his watch: 12:19. Perfect.

"One more minute and Filch will start patrolling the library for sixty-eight minutes and twenty three seconds," Blaise whispered to Draco proudly as they waited upon the patch of roof above Filch's office.

"And how do you know this?" questioned Draco.

Blaise flashed him a rather large grin. "I snuck out of the dormitory for a couple of nights and followed him. Now I've got his whole schedule memorized! On Saturdays he patrols mostly around the second floor corridors and on Sundays, after he comes back from Hogsmeade with a bottle of Fire Whisky, he starts his usual rounds on-"

"For Pete's sake Blaise, if you spent as much time researching pranks as you do in school then you'd be even smarter then Granger!"

"Speaking of Miss Head Girl…"

"What about her-?"

"Shhh!" he hissed, "We've got to be quite its 12:20."

Blaise swung down from his seat and landed lightly on a short ledge of roof that stuck out from under the window. He peered into the dirty window and made sure the room was empty. Then he motioned for Draco to come down as well. With a few whispered spells, the window opened and the two crept into Filch's silent office.

"What do we do now?" Draco whispered to Blaise as he observed the small and dirty room.

He thought for a moment and reached into the sack they had brought with them. He took out the rats (they had cast a spell on them so they wouldn't make any noises) and the bottle of polyjuice potion with some of Mrs. Norris' hair in it.

He checked his watch once more.

"Right on time. It's 12:25 and by the time we've gotten all the rats turned into Mrs. Norris clones and stunned, it'll be about 12:30. Then we shall hang them all around the room (but not by the neck of course because that would kill them). Filch will get back here at about 1:20 and once he recovers from shock, he'll run to tell Dumbledore. That will take him about 10 minutes to get Dumbledore so we'll have to grab all the cat clones and once it is 1:30, they will turn back into rats and we can un-stun them and set them free. Perfect plan, eh?"

(A/N: Whoa… that didn't actually take much time to work it all out… maybe prank creating should become my passion! I'm kidding…)

"Do you have some kind of instruction manual that tells you all this?"

"I'm just naturally gifted at these things."

Evidently, Blaise's plan worked wonders and Filch ran, nearly screaming from his office, leaving Mrs. Norris looking like she had been petrified for the second time in her life.

Once Dumbledore had arrived at the scene of the crime, they had cleaned up their prank so well that Dumbledore had nearly thought Filch had finally gone crazy.

They let the rats go into the forest, not wanting them roaming the corridors for anyone's sake.

It was when Draco had helped Blaise sneak into the first floor boy's lavatory and he had dashed back down to his dorm in the dungeons that his thoughts went back to Hermione.

"What was Blaise trying to bring up when he mentioned her?" he thought to himself.

"Maybe he just wanted to talk about how hot he thinks Hermione and Ginny are," replied his inner voice.

"…Most likely."

He tried to push his thoughts of Hermione into the back of his mind but it made it nearly impossible when he found himself standing outside her bedroom window. Blaise had instructed him on how to get back to his own room by means of the Hogwarts roofs.

His curiosity got the best of him and he leaned forward, peering into the clean glass window. There she was, to the right of him, sleeping peacefully. He sighed to himself. She even looked beautiful when she slept. But these thoughts were forbidden for him to speak of aloud and the need burned inside of him like a raging fire. He would have to talk about it with Blaise if the subject came up again. There was no use avoiding it.

_Ooof. That one was actually a bit longer than usual too! Hehe I tried to leave a cliffhanger but I've decided that it would just be easier if I'd give you guys a sneak peak of the next chapter! _

_By the way, the song I used was Dirty Little Secret by the All-American Rejects._

**Chapter Ten Sneak Peak:**

"**MALFOY! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" Hermione shouted at him, waving her arms around in the air.**

"**How many times do I have to tell you, HERMIONE? Call me Draco."**

**She rolled her eyes at him.**

"**Oh I'm sorry, Draco dear. I forgot," she said in a sweetinly mocking voice.**

**He smirked and stepped forward, leaning towards her slightly…**


	10. Blue Gray

_**I'm so sorry, I haven't updated in what? Almost three months! Jesus! I promise I'll put up LOTS of chapters during this Christmas break because I have two weeks off of school! YAY!**_

_**Basically, this one's pretty important because… well… you'll see!**_

Chapter Ten: Gray Blue 

The bushy brown head rose from her peaceful slumber and immediately jumped out of her bed and to the bathroom.

It was 7:45, just enough time to get ready for class.

Have you ever just woken up from a wonderful dream and all of sudden you couldn't remember it? And you had to think really hard to remember the slightest bit of something that happened? Maybe so, maybe not, but that's how Hermione felt right now.

As she stared at her reflection in the mirror, gently wiping her face with a cold towel, she realized her heart felt light and she couldn't stop a smile from spreading across her face. For a moment she wondered what she had been dreaming about last night. Thinking hard with her eyes closed shut she was able to recall the scene.

They were outside the castle, walking along the shore of the lake, not really caring about anything.

What do you mean they you ask? Well to be honest, Hermione wasn't exactly sure who was with her. She just knew someone else was. She could feel the eyes of her companion boring down into her as if he knew everything.

_She grew bored from the silence and was about to wander off closer to the water's edge when she felt a light pressure against her hand, pulling her back._

_It was then that her heart leapt as she turned around to face a boy._

_He was dressed in Slytherin robes, uncannily eliminating all other boys in Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and to her disappointment, Gryffindor. But the identity of the boy was unmistaken with one glance of his hair._

_The platinum blonde locks of someone she had grown quite accustomed to seeing greeted her eyes, making her smile. She looked down at their hands, intertwined with each other. Forcing back a blush, she tried pulling away regretfully, but his other hand reached up and tilted her chin so she could look into his beautiful eyes._

_Gray-blue._

Attractive eyes to most people would be unique eyes, like blue, green, or even a light brown. But to her, his eyes were the most beautiful she had ever seen. They clashed with each other, the blue of the sunny sky trying to overtake the gray of the clouds and rain, each fighting for dominance. It was like a battle of feelings. His eyes would change everytime he felt a different emotion.

When he was angry his eyes were a dark gray. Then they would shift into neutral: Gray. And then when he was pleased, they would turn into the raging battle of gray and blue. When he was in love… well-

She snapped out of her daze, only realizing then that she was grinning uncontrollably and her hands were clasped together as if she were praying.

Sighing, she closed her eyes briefly and continued to prepare for her early morning classes. Later tonight, before dinner she would have her last kitchen duty and then it was blissful freedom. Well… maybe not blissful. She had the strangest feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was going to miss these bickering moments with Malfoy while they sorted spices on the racks.

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Her day had been hectic. Well, more like: _bloody fricken annoying as hell_. Or so Blaise would put it (they sat next to each other in Transfiguration)

She actually counted the hours till she would be able to possibly take her stress out on a bag of flour by beating it till it opened.

When she had arrived at the kitchens, Draco was lying across a spare bench.

"Good evening Malfoy," she said almost bitterly, trying to forget the images of last night's dream that kept popping up in her mind.

"Someone seems a bit tense."

She glanced at him, catching a glimpse of his smirk.

"I am not tense,"

"Of course not,"

"I'M NOT TENSE!"

"Okay, okay, I get it!"

Hermione glared at him and stalked off towards the bench Draco had been laying on earlier.

"So what are we making anyways?"

"Um… cookies?"

"What kind of cookies?"

"Cookies."

She rolled her eyes at him and began tearing open a bag of flour.

"Could you get me an electric mixer?"

"Can't we just magically summon it or something?"

"If you haven't noticed Malfoy, we don't have wands!"

"Fine…" He stomped off in the direction of the electric machines (the only place you'd find such in Hogwarts).

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Soon enough, they had found all the necessary ingredients for baking the cookies. It was already 5:00, only an hour before the Halloween Dinner was to start.

"I'm not kidding, Malfoy. If you don't hurry up and put those ingredients into the mixer then we'll both miss dinner!"

"It's not as easy as it looks!" he said, messily pouring in flour and eggs into the bowl. "Now what do I do?"

"Well, uh, I don't know. Maybe, TURN IT ON?"

He flipped the switch and the beaters started turning, mixing the milk, eggs, sugar, and flour.

"That's good," Hermione said, looking over his shoulder at the well-blended cookie dough.

"So… what do I do now?"

She sent him a daring glare.

"He he." He laughed jokingly, smiling like a young boy. He grabbed a handful of dough from out of the bowl and began shaping it with his fingers into a heart.

Hermione sighed and giggled slightly at how childish he was behaving.

Well… that was until he proceeded pull the beaters out of the bowl… while they were still spinning.

Her face and clothes were splattered with raw cookie dough, adding more messiness to her hair.

"Malfoy…" she growled, spitting out some of the batter that had flown into her mouth.

"Whoops," he smiled sheepishly.

Then an idea struck her. Reaching down slowly with a big grin on her face, she picked up a raw egg and pelted it at Draco.

The egg landed smack dab on his chest, the yolky mess dripping down the front of his robes.

"Oooh, Granger. That wasn't very smart."

He threw some flour into her face, turning her hair white.

"MALFOY! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" Hermione shouted at him, waving her arms around in the air.

"How many times do I have to tell you, HERMIONE? Call me Draco."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh I'm sorry, Draco dear. I forgot," she said in a mocking voice.

He smirked and stepped forward, leaning towards her slightly.

"You know, you look quite cute with white hair,"

"Oh please," she scoffed, pushing him away.

But Draco grabbed her hands, pulling her with him as he tumbled down to the ground.

"Oof… Draco Malfoy let go of me!" she laughed.

"Well actually, I kind of like this position," he said with a smirk.

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It took a while to convince Draco that they were going to be late for dinner if they didn't hurry.

By the time they had finished baking the cookies, it was already 5:55. But that soon turned into 5:58 because Draco just had to run over and ask Dobby something.

"Thank goodness that's over with," Hermione mumbled to herself as Draco shot past her yelling "I'M FREE!"

She caught up to him not long after. He had apparently grown tired of running up and down stairs and through corridors.

As he bent down to tie his shoelaces in front of the Great Hall's entrance, she was saddened to realize they wouldn't be spending time together anymore. But it was fun while it lasted.

"So whose going in first?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked her quizzically.

"You know..."

She began motioning towards the Great Hall.

"Uh… still not getting it,"

"Whose going to walk in first, because obviously we can't walk in together since we're supposed to be enemies and all, and furthermore, Harry and Ron would have a fit if I was even seen five feet near you since they're sort of overpro-"

"HERMIONE!"

"Uh-wha?"

He slowly got up and as he did so, took her two hands in his.

"Calm down. Usually I'm supposed to be the one to suggest that!"

She smiled and her heart seemed to lift.

"Thanks Draco,"

"What for?"

"For making my night seem a lot better then I thought it could be."

"…You know, your night could always be just a little bit better if we just hussied on up to our dorm room and…"

"What was that?"

"Uh…oh… nothing."

She smiled at him and he made an innocent face as if he wasn't thinking dirty thoughts of her at the moment. **(A/N: As if…)**

By the time they had finished their conversation, it was seven minutes past five o'clock and the feast had begun. Hermione and Draco had decided to go in separately. He would walk in first. Then she would follow after waiting a moment. She had had to explain to him how Harry and Ron really would be upset if they saw them walking in together. Not to mention the fact that they were not completely cleaned up from the fight down in the kitchen.

Hermione stood there for ten seconds from when Draco disappeared into the chattering hall. She decided to walk in now, since everyone was probably paying attention to their own personal conversations.

Boy, was she wrong.

Upon her entrance in the Great Hall, all the students fell silent and many turned to look at her. Draco had not yet made his way to his table and was in the mist of sitting down when he realized the talking had died away.

Hermione gulped, imagining what every one of her peers must be thinking…

"_What were Malfoy and Granger doing?"_

She should have waited longer… and maybe it would have helped to wipe off some of the cookie ingredients that were all over her.

As the student body recovered from shock, some boys gave out hoots and whistles. There was even a few Slytherins applauding Draco. Pansy didn't look too pleased at all though…

A Slythering fifth year leaned across the table so Draco could hear him, "Wow, Draco. Finally got the mudblood, huh? Was she good?"

Draco looked absolutely revolted.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about, man? NOTHING happened. We were cooking food down in the kitchens! You better bet I didn't put some poison in yours!" he shouted, glaring at the fifth year. "AND WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTHS?"

The whole hall was instantly silent once more and Hermione found herself thanking Draco deeply in her mind. She really was uncomfortable with all these dirty stares from a few Draco-Worshiping girls.

And the second she sat down in between Harry and Seamus, with Ginny and Ron sitting across from her, their questions were firing away like bullets.

"HERMIONE?" asked Harry, completely flabbergasted as was Ron.

Hermione squeaked out a shy, "Yes?"

"WOT YE AELL APPENED?" shouted Ron, his mouth filled with mashed potatoes.

"What Ron means to say, Hermione, is: what the hell happened? As I'm sure we'd all like to know…" said Ginny, giving her one of those looks that always made you tell the truth.

"Nothing happened! Now, will the both of you"- she pointed at Ron and Harry-"stop looking at me as if I've just murdered someone and-… Ron, it would help us all if you'd just stop stuffing your mouth with food and trying to talk at the same time!"

After a couple of minutes, the houses began talking again and the Great Hall was more relaxed. Hermione on the other hand was not having a rather splendid time. Ron couldn't help but continue to ask her about what had gone on down in the kitchens. It was only the desserts appeared on the table when she grew happy.

As if someone had asked a house elf to place a heart shaped cookie on her plate, there it was, lying there ready to be eaten.

She looked up and avoided Ron's curious gaze and caught Draco's eye. He looked at the cookie on her plate and smiled at her.

"You don't give heart shaped cookies on Halloween," said Ron, sounding annoyed.

Hermione stared down at her cookie and smiled. Perhaps Draco was a good cook.

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Later that evening, once the feast had ended and the students had made it safely to their houses, Hermione slipped into her Head Girl Dorm and found an owl sitting on her floor. There was a letter written in flowing script addressed to her. Just as she was about to open it, a sharp knock sounded on her bathroom door.

DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNN! Well it's not much of a cliffhanger, but I know you're all wondering who it could be! Am I right? Yeah… I think you all pretty much know… I mean who else has access to Hermione and **DRACO'S **bathroom.

If you haven't realized by now, I give you guys A LOT of hints.


	11. Dance among the Stars

**I'm stuck at home for six hours so I have enough time to post up a new chapter!**

**Chapter Eleven: Dance among the Stars**

Before Hermione had time to answer, the door swung open and there stood Draco, with a similar note in his hand.

"Did you open it yet?" he asked, walking into the room.

She shook her head, "Nope." Then slowly slipped her finger under the envelope's flap and pulled out a brief letter from Dumbledore.

_Dear Ms Granger,_

_Kindly report to my office tomorrow night before dinner. I would like to discuss a few matters involving your position as Head Girl. Mr. Malfoy has also been sent a letter informing him of this meeting._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

Hermione handed the squawking owl a treat and it hastily scrambled out of the room. She then grabbed the note and neatly folded it back into its envelope. "What does Dumbledore need us for?"

"I don't know. Maybe he's inviting us to tea!" Draco said, grinning happily. Hermione raised her eyebrow curiously and he sarcastically made a bashful face.

They stood there for a moment in an awkward silence until Hermione snapped out of her daze and spoke, "Well I guess I'd better be getting to bed…"

"Yeah. Big day tomorrow," he said, backing slowly towards the door with his hands in his pockets.

Hermione's eyebrows furrowed and she gave him a questioning glance, "Big day?"

Draco smiled and let out a laugh, flashing his pearly whites, "We've got dance class tomorrow!"

It took Hermione a bit to register what he meant by "dance class". "…Dance class?"

Draco nodded his head and lifted his arms as if he was holding a dance partner.

"Oh! You mean Professor Hillside's class?"

"Ugh… her,"

"There's nothing wrong with Professor Hillside. In fact, I rather quite like her."

Draco's eyes widened as she spoke, "Hermione… you mean…?"

"Not like that, Draco!"

He let out his breath and fell back against the wall. "Thank god. If you were a lesbian then it would be a waste of the female species to us boys…"

She raised her brow at him and punched Draco playfully on his shoulder.

"Well I really should be getting to bed, Draco."

"Until tomorrow then."

Draco closed Hermione's bathroom door and both of them hopped into their own beds, excitement running through their veins with thoughts of what tomorrow would bring.

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The next morning, after breakfast, the tables in the great hall were pushed aside and all the seventh years were asked by Professor Hillside to find their partners.

It wasn't much of a difficulty to find Draco among the rest of the students. After all, he was one of the tallest in their year and his platinum blonde hair stood out against the sea of students.

"Good morning, Hermione," he greeted her kindly as she smiled back politely.

Professor Hillside stepped up onto a table and switched on the large music player. The classical music flowed out of it and swiveled around the couples. "Boys, bow." She commanded.

Draco bent forward gracefully and held out his hand to her.

"Ladies!" rang Professor Hillside's voice throughout the hall.

Hermione curtsied and took Draco's hand in hers.

"Don't forget about tonight," he whispered in her ear as they danced the morning away.

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The rest of Hermione's day had been usual. The only difference was that she was having quite a hard time trying to pay attention. Every time her Professor would begin to lecture them about something, she would fall into a daze-like phase halfway through his speech. By the time she snapped out of it, she didn't know what the hell he had been talking about.

In her last class of the day, she began to feel a pair of eyes staring from behind her. When the Professor turned towards the board to draw a diagram, she glanced behind herself and met a pair of gray-blue eyes. As she realized it was Draco, she gave him a small smile and watched his eyes soften into a shade of blue before turning back around.

Once again, her daydream took hold and she found herself thinking about Draco (and his beautiful blue eyes). She imagined them in the Great Hall, instead of walking in hanging on Ron's arm she was holding hands with Draco. He led her out onto the dance floor just as the classical music they danced to during class came on. The students watching fell silent and she could feel their eyes boring into her. Nervousness overwhelmed her and she was about to back out off the dance floor but Draco pulled her close to him and embraced her. "Hermione, don't look at them. They're jealous Hermione, all of them. Hermione… HERMIONE… HERMIONE!"

She snapped out of her daze and found herself in the class room. Apparently it was the end of class because all the other students had already left for some free time before dinner. She turned around and noticed that Draco had left as well.

"Hermione, what were you doing?"

She looked sideways and found Harry staring at her.

"Harry! Oh, I was just thinking…" she said rather shyly.

He looked at her questioningly, "About what?"

"Nothing important really," Hermione said, standing up and collecting her books in her arms.

Harry gave her a disbelieving expression and placed both his hands on her shoulders, "Whatever you say, Hermione. But the next time you start 'thinking' in class, try not to drool."

Her hand immediately flew up to her mouth where she felt a slight trickle of saliva. It was useless to try and hide the blush that was appearing across her cheeks, but it was just Harry after all. He was her best friend and she didn't care if he knew about the crazy fantasies running around in her head.

"Uh… Harry?"

He stopped at the doorway and turned on his heel swiftly with an expecting look on his face.

As she looked at him, she suddenly felt unsure about her decision to tell him she was beginning to have feelings for Draco. She reasoned with herself quickly that it was too soon to tell Harry about how close she was becoming to him and simply smiled.

"Never mind… see you at dinner," she said.

As she walked out of the classroom moments later, she couldn't see much with the load of books she had to carry with her. Without being able to see her way, she turned a corner and bumped into someone. Her books flew into the air and sprawled all over the floor. Hermione landed on her bum and swore a little under her breath.

"Oh, I'm sorry I-Draco?"

Draco looked down at her and grinned. Obviously he hadn't been knocked over. He reached down and helped her up, then proceeded to pick up all her books for her.

"Isn't Dumbledore's office that way?"

He nodded his head.

"Then why were you walking the opposite direction?"

"I went to put my things away and was trying to find you,"

She smiled at him and took his hand for the second time that day, "Well that's quite nice of you."

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"Good evening Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy," said Dumbledore as they walked into his office five minutes later. They both took seats in front of his desk before he began to explain to them what this meeting was about.

"I have called you both here because we have a matter to discuss: The Christmas Ball."

**YAAAAAY! Another chapter done! One more till I'll turn in for the evening.**


	12. Television?

**Okay, I made this chapter longer than numero eleven, and finally, since ****HaliJade Snape**** wanted it in this chapter you'll be getting quite a bit of fluffiness (so they call it) :D Haha. And before I forget… HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**Chapter Twelve: Television?**

Hermione squealed with excitement, which caused Draco to look at her and gape.

He didn't know she was into these kinds of "parties" that happened every once in a while. It's not that he wasn't fond of these occasions as well. He had attended many during the summers he spent alone with only his mother (his father obviously busy with other "things" of more importance).

Last summer he had traveled with his best mate Blaise to a place they call New York in America. When they had first seen the huge statue of a woman, Blaise grew rather excited thinking that New York was a place where everyone praised women so much as to build a humungous statue of one and crown her. "Yeah… and that torch she's holding is what women used in the old days to scare away perverted men, like you." Draco had said to him.

During their stay in New York they had also wandered into many night clubs. Blaise had had a blast, of course. But Draco preferred sitting on the side and admiring the beautiful women from afar. He had grown slightly weary from girls throwing themselves at him. That's why he took such a liking to Hermione. She wasn't a slut like all the others and he actually had to put some effort in their relationship for it to get as far as it had.

"Why yes Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said, fiddling with his long gray hair.

Only now did she notice Draco's bewildered look and she blushed, embarrassed. Yes, I know what you're thinking. "I thought Hermione didn't like dancing?" But now she's seen what fun it can really be. Especially dancing with Draco! Sadly though, she isn't going to the dance with him. She's going with Ron, remember?

"A Christmas one?" asked Draco. Dumbledore shook his head yes and his eye showed a little twinkle of excitement. "But what about the students that are going away for the holidays?"

"Actually, the ball really won't be taking place around Christmas. We're having it on Saturday, before students pack up their things."

"Are there any plans for New Years?" Hermione said, completely unaware that some wizarding families didn't know what New Years was.

"We can discuss this-" Before Dumbledore could finish his sentence, Draco cut in, obviously confused. "New Years? What's that?"

"You've never heard of New Years before?" She said, looking over at Dumbledore, then back at Draco.

The Headmaster decided that maybe it was best he should tell Draco about this custom. Since, Hermione did not know about these things. "Mr. Malfoy, New Years is a muggle originated tradition that is celebrated every year around the same time as Christmas. On December 31st, New Years Eve, most muggles and quite a bit of wizards stay up past midnight to watch tremendous firework displays and basically have a large party. As you know, at exactly 12:00, a new day begins and January 1st is the first day of the new year."

"Mum took me one year during vacation to see the ball drop in New York. It was brilliant!" Hermione said, remembering the day they rushed over to New York just to see it. "I hope I'm not being rude Professor, but do you think we could put a big screen and connect to a TV station that shows Time Square when the ball drops?"

"What the hell is a TV station?"

Obviously Draco was getting confused again.

Dumbledore chuckled softly and muttered, "What are you all learning in Muggle Studies these days?"

Draco raised and eyebrow and turned to Hermione. She mouthed "tell you later" before turning back and looking expectantly at the headmaster.

"We can discuss the matter of New Years later Ms. Granger. But that's what I wanted to talk about with you two today. Since you're Head Girl and Head Boy, it is part of your school duties to run all these occasions."

Hermione looked slightly shocked for a moment. There was no way only she and Draco could handle the responsibility of planning a whole Ball. "But Professor, isn't that a lot of work to do?"

"Don't you live for work?" Draco asked, grinning. She replied with a playful kick under the desk.

Dumbledore smiled warmly, they were becoming closer. Part of the reason he had wanted them both as Head Boy and Girl was so that they could show the school overcoming differences were really not that hard. "Don't worry. I'm sure you are aware of the student committee that is dedicated to helping you both with these things."

"So we can command them and everything? To do whatever we want?"

"Draco…" Hermione muttered at him under her breath. He shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.

"They are not like house elves Mr. Malfoy, but nonetheless, they are there to insure a wonderful Ball by listening to your orders." Dumbledore glanced at the clock on the wall. "You only have a few hours before dinner so I shall tell you two what I would like to accomplish before then. Tour the castle and find a suitable place for us to hold the Ball."

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Hermione and Draco had just finished looking at the ups and downs of using the Great Hall. He had wanted to just finish their job and choose it but she thought different. They _always_ used the Great Hall. For eating three times a day, their dance classes, and the last Ball they had had.

"Where else are we going to have it then? We'll be spending the whole evening adventuring around the school!" he said impatiently.

"It won't take too long Draco," she said encouragingly.

"What's the big deal about this anyways? I mean, it's just a Ball,"

"I know it's just a Ball, but it's important to me. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I want this to be fun."

She blushed, thinking that it was quite childish of her to admit this. He smiled at her innocence and pulled her into a big embrace.

"I'll do it for you, Hermione."

She sighed and sniffed a little as she laid her face against Draco's hard chest. She was thankful that he couldn't see her face because her eyes were beginning to water up. Only now did she realize how much he had changed, and how truly wonderful he could be.

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They had gone through many different locations around the castle, but nothing seemed to fit the occasion. Hermione was just about to give up and tell Dumbledore that they would go with the Great Hall one more time before Draco had an idea.

"This place Blaise told me about. It's supposed to be really brilliant!" he had said, seemingly very excited.

She nodded her head, and then slipped her arm into his, "Let's go then!"

Blaise hadn't been kidding. It _was_ amazing.

A couple of hallways away from the Great Hall stood a small door that looked like only a house elf would be able to fit through it.

Draco winked at Hermione, pulled out his wand and with a flick of his wrist the door began to contort itself into a large rotating door.

They stepped through it and found themselves at the top of a staircase. It took approximately nine steps to get to the bottom where the marble staircase fanned out into the matching marble floor. There were tall French windows running along both sides of the room and a beautiful fountain in the middle.

"I-It's beautiful…" stammered Hermione. She had never seen anything so lovely. But even with its beauty, it was missing something. This place was too, too plain. The marble and everything was pretty of course, but it didn't look like Hogwarts.

Thinking of an idea, Hermione whispered a simple spell she had seen in a book about wizarding gardens and instantly, vines started lacing itself around the banister of the marble staircase. Soon, more began growing around the bottom of the fountain. There were even some vines growing around the outline of the windows.

"Now that's what I call beautiful." She heard Draco say from behind her.

She turned around with a smile on her face after admiring her work. "I know, isn't it?"

"The room's great, Hermione, but that's not what I'm referring to."

She looked at him strangely, trying to figure out what he was trying to say. "I don't get it. What _are_ you referring to?"

Draco shook his head as if she had just asked a very silly question and sauntered over to her. Her muscles tensed up a little, unsure of what he meant to do. His hand slowly rose from his side and began tracing a circle around her cheek with his index finger.

Then ever so slowly, he leaned down and kissed her.

At that moment Hermione's heart felt light and her head began to spin. Her first kiss. It was simple, yet mind blowing. It was beyond anything she could ever have imagined. She couldn't believe it, yet suddenly she found herself kissing back.

"I'm kissing Draco Malfoy, I'm kissing Draco Malfoy," she kept on saying in her head until they broke apart (to her dismay).

"You," Draco finally managed to say after a moment of silence.

How much he had wanted to kiss her since that night down in the kitchens. But he had held back since it wouldn't be proper of him.

Yes, Draco Malfoy new proper, and he knew it well. Once, he had been at a party not too long ago and began snogging some random girl in the room when his mother saw and grew quite furious. They had had a long talk about what is proper and what isn't. He hadn't paid attention to what she was jabbering about since he was still reflecting on his short snogging session with the hot blonde.

Mind you, that was the old Draco Malfoy. Now, he wouldn't even have looked twice at the girl if she had shown her face at Hogwarts. Sometimes he had blamed girls for being such sluts that they lured unsuspecting men like him. They were teases too, but mostly just trying to get into your pants by the end of the night. He had learned that quickly.

_But, getting back to our lovely Draco and Hermione relationship…_

"…Y-you think I'm beautiful," she stuttered, blushing furiously.

He smirked and continued, "Who wouldn't. And I love it when you blush."

Hermione held back a laugh and blushed even more, if that was possible. "Draco, that's just making me blush even more."

"That's the point, love," he teased, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her towards him.

They spent several moments just embracing each other until Hermione remembered the question she had wanted to ask him just before he kissed her.

"But Why do you like me Draco?"

He tore his gaze from the beauty of the room and looked down at her, his eyes turning blue.

"I mean, not that I'm implying you like me… it's just, well, you just kissed me and usually that would mean that you do like me, but I don't want to be to forward or anything in thinking that you do like me more than a friend but really you-"

"Hermione!" he laughed, placing his hands on her upper arms and shaking her lightly.

She blushed again, making Draco smile. "Oh… sorry. I have a habit of doing that sometimes."

"So I've noticed," he smirked.

Her face became serious again and she proceeded to ask Draco the same question, without embarrassing herself.

"There are so many girls in the school. I'm certainly not as pretty as other girls, I spend my time studying in the library or in my dorm, and I don't think I'm too popular really,"

"Hermione, I just told you that you're beautiful,"

"But-"

He knelt down a little so that their faces were level. His blue eyes twinkled, like Dumbledore's did occasionally.

"Who cares about those other things? I don't. You're beautiful, kind, sweet-I could make a list here, Hermione! What else? Well, you're smart too, respectful, help-"

Her already big eyes grew larger and she realized just what was happening. He was telling her that the self-fish, spoiled old Draco had changed. She had changed him. But he had also changed her in a way. He was showing her just how special she really was.

She smiled and before he could finish his list, she leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

When they broke apart, he added with a smirk, "And a wonderful kisser too."

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The pair traveled happily to the Great Hall for dinner after informing Dumbledore about their decision.

Hermione's mind revolving around what a wonderful time she hoped to have during the ball.

Daco's realizing how many Quidditch practices he had missed with his detentions. He would have to put even more effort in at practice over the next couple of days till vacation. But hopefully some players would stay home for the holidays and they could continue practices.

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"Someone seems to be quite happy," said Ginny as she sat next to Hermione in the Great Hall. Ginny nudged Hermione's side with her elbow and whispered, "So what happened?" Hermione blushed for probably the bazillionth time that day. Ginny grinned and made Hermione promise she'd tell her later when dinner was through.

"I didn't see you at all after classes, Hermione. Where were you?" Harry asked her from across the table.

"Er… meeting with Dumbledore," She tried to make her voice sound steady and believable but it didn't work. Harry could already tell something was going on.

"For two hours?"

She smiled sheepishly. After all, she was telling the truth, just not all of it. "It was about the Ball… planning things takes lots of time. Especially when you have to plan the _entire_ thing,"

Harry raised his eyebrow but said nothing more.

Hermione wondered where Ron was in this conversation. Wasn't he worried? He had asked her to the Ball, she had thought he liked her.

"_Boys are so confusing,"_ she thought to herself.

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"Oi! Sarah!" Blaise Zabini yelled, running down the hall to catch up with the pretty blonde. She stopped her quick pace and turned around to face an out of breath Italian.

"Yes?" She said impatiently, having been in a rather pissy mood ever since Pansy had scared her off and Draco had turned down her brother for the Quidditch team.

"You remember my friend Draco, right?"

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish.

"Still interested in him?"

"I thought he has something for that mudblood… Granger, is it?"

Blaise shook his head and chuckled. "Not exactly. I mean, he thinks she's damn fine but other than that, nothing."

Her green eyes flashed with excitement and narrowed as a wicked smile spread across her face.

"Well then, I'm listening."

**Uh oh! Well, finally huh? That was your guys' belated Christmas present: Draco kissing Hermione :D. But now Blaise has gone and made a big mistake… next chapter up soon! Thanks to all you reviewers! You make me smile!    ------ See!**


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